It's not Maria Full of Grace...

...but using Virgin Mary tombstones to smuggle cocaine?

OCLC's Top 1000 Titles

The top 1000 titles for 2005 according to OCLC. The top-ranked book is a no-brainer. Number 15 on the list was a bit of a shocker though.

Mississippians in the Top 1000, the number of titles in the Top 1000, and book rankings:

John Grisham: 13 titles - (#520, #570, #578, #595, #622, #623, #658, #668, #724, #805, #827, #866, #928)
William Faulkner: 5 titles - (#228, #625, #674, #701, #707)
Tennessee Williams: 2 titles - (#619, #849)
Richard Wright: 2 titles - (#426, #567)
Arthur Guyton: 1 title - (#665)

There may be more, but I didn't see them.

Thanks to The Book Depository for the heads-up.

General Foglesong: MSU's preferred Presidential candidate

The College Board announced its preferred candidate for the MSU Presidency. Retired General Robert Foglesong was formerly an assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He was also commander, US Air Forces Europe before his retirement on February 1 of this year. He earned his wings at Columbus Air Force Base.

He has bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from West Virginia University. As might be expected, he's a distinguished alumnus of West Virginia and was recently named a director of Massey Energy.

Here's a photograph of Foglesong at a White House ceremony some four years ago.

St. Patrick's Weekend Evidence

TD & Otherjay shot some photos of the goings-on surrounding the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Jackson. The St. Patrick's Day parade is the coolest thing Jackson's got going on. It is the most fun event of the year. Considering that I've been pretty stressed the past few years, fun was what I wanted-- and fun was what I got.

Here's TD's photos.

This is one of my favorite photos-- me dancing with the lovely Fairy Penguin. I think this photo is the best headshot taken of me in quite some time.

Here I am demonstrating my Feats of Strength even though Festivus is several months away. And yes, I am wearing my What Would Dewey Do? shirt from Unshelved.

This is another fave photo-- me with my friend K. She came in from out of town to march in the parade. She belongs to a Sweet Potato Queens chapter.

Here's Otherjay's photos.

I thought originally that this photo of me with OJ & LA was taken at La Cazuela, but I'm still wearing all those beads, so it must have been taken at WC Don's.

Thank you again TD & OJ for taking the photos. They're awesome.

Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy

The University of Mississippi named Andy Kennedy head basketball coach last night. While I'm not a fan of Ole Miss basketball, I confess to being interested because the new coach is a distant cousin of mine.

Sheriff Billy McGee

In the past several weeks, there have been several articles written about Forrest County sheriff Billy McGee's legal difficulties in the aftermath of his commandeering ice trucks from Camp Shelby on September 4. There's even been a song written about him.

I lived in Hattiesburg when I was a graduate student at USM, and my mother now lives just outside Hattiesburg in Lamar County. I've also blogged about my experiences traveling down to her house and being there post-Katrina. She was really fortunate.

Now, Sheriff McGee's story has made it to CNN-- Anderson Cooper's blog, specifically. A lot of people may not understand how bad things were when Katrina struck, but when you consider that a brother killed his sister over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg, you certainly cannot fault the sheriff for taking action. I know I'm not.

I wish Sheriff McGee the best.

Florida Prison Softball Ringer

The Florida Corrections Department put Mark Guerra, a former minor league baseball player, on their payroll so that the prison guards could win a softball tournament. He was charged with accepting paychecks for work never done at a prison library. He's supposed to repay $1,400 and complete 50 hours of community service.

I think it would be very apropos if said community service were done at a library.

Smokeless in Starkvegas

According to this AP article, Starkville's Board of Aldermen has adopted an ordinance banning smoking in public places and in places of employment.

Online Jeopardy Contestant Test

Yes, you can take the Jeopardy Contestant Test online next week. Here's a link to a cnn.com news article about it. I'm not eligible since I had passed a contestant test in Memphis this past July.

G-Men Don't Got Mail...

The FBI can't afford to give all their agents e-mail accounts.

Perhaps the G-Men could try Gmail?

Well-Behaved Women

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a feature story on Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Midwife's Tale and creator of the slogan Well-behaved women seldom make history.

St. Patrick's Weekend

Friday afternoon, I called my friend K who's up here for the parade. She belongs to a Queens group based in Laurel. I talked to her for awhile and then called up TD to see what the plans were for that night.

He said he'd call back at 9. At 7 pm, I head off to Jackson. I call K, but there was no answer. I go to Barnes & Noble and browse for a little while. I then go to the Wal-Mart in Ridgeland. While there, I get a phone call from TD, but it's really LA. She tells me that people are going to be at TD's, and so I head over there once I make my purchase.

Shortly after I arrive at TD's place, several of my friends and acquaintances appear. Sally and I talk briefly. Otherjay arrives. We talk about various things.

He also suggested that I should post a link to my match.com profile so people who read the blog have a little bit more of an idea what I'm like or make fun of the profile-- one or the other, perhaps both. I figure, what the heck why not, besides I know that TD spent some time searching for my profile after December's post regarding Hate Mail Gal. I also know he emailed the link to the profile to quite a few of my friends here in the Jackson area & beyond, and so it's mostly friends I know who read the blog (as well as some lurkers-- Otherjay told me Friday night he's introduced at least a couple people to the blog). Most of my friends have also seen my profile.

I was one of the last people to leave TD's house. I left at 1:45 a.m. and made it back to the house a little after 2. I fell asleep shortly after 3 a.m. and got up at 9:30. Normally, I'd be sleeping in, but with Saturday being Parade Day I wanted to be there by the time it started.

I left the house at 10:15. I wanted to get a quick bite to eat. I stopped at Shoney's in Clinton and the IHOP off highway 18 in Jackson, but both were packed. I wound up eating at a Wendy's near Metrocenter. I had Chili, a Double Stack, some fries, and washed down the meal with a Dr. Pepper.

While driving on I-20 eastbound from Robinson Road, I noticed that traffic was stopped. Fortunately, I could pull over to the far right lane and exit at Ellis Avenue. I took 80 eastbound to State and then turned at Silas Brown, Jefferson, and Mississippi before I pulled in to the Eudora Welty parking lot a little after 11:30.

I went inside the library, checked out some books, and took them to the car. I then walked from the library to the Governor's Mansion. I made it in front of the Mansion at about 11:55. There weren't many people there. A few minutes after I arrived, friends began appearing a bit at a time.

By this time, I noticed that K's Queens group had passed me by. I walked over to in front of them and then shouted out K's name. She heard me & shushed me. She came over, kissed me, and gave me some humoungous beads. She called out another friend's name who's in the same Queens group. She kissed me on the cheek and also gave me some beads.

The rest of the parade was cool. We all got bunches o'beads. We took our time heading over to the street party. When we arrived over there, I looked for K. It took me a few minutes but finally found her. TD took some pics of K & me.

We socialized at Don's for awhile then gradually made our way over to La Cazuela where most of us had Mexican food. I'd not been there before. I think that surprised some people, but considering I'm one of the rare non-Jacksonians in this circle of friends, it's not all that surprising to me.

After we ate, I went back to Don's. I spent most of the time going back and forth between Don's and Martin's. Goodman County performed at Don's. Taylor Grocery Band performed at Martin's. While at Martin's, I ran into Ted and Rob from the Scissormen. Ted performed at Martin's last fall. Scott Albert Johnson was there, and we talked.

I needed a night out. I've mentioned this before in previous posts, so I won't bore you with too much detail (which means that instead of a eighteen paragraph post, this note has fifteen paragraphs). I had fun.

I slept in-- waking up a little before 11 Sunday morning. I stayed in the house. The weather's really too dreary for me to go out.

It's now a little after 1:15 a.m. Monday morning. I have to be at work in twelve hours. Spring Break is over. The Project is over, and my attention is now focused on library matters.

Being and Nothingness

My involvement in a major project --as far as I'm concerned-- ended last week. While I'm taking it somewhat easy this week by sleeping in & working part-time this Spring Break week, I sometimes wonder if what I do-- all my work is really worth it. Am I who I am because of what I do?

Sometimes I think the answers are in the affirmative. After all, consider my pen name, The Library Guy. When I worked in the public library in Laurel, I was often identified as such, and I liked that. Some my good friends in Jones County still refer to me as Library Guy.

However, am I fulfilled by what I'm doing? There's a part of me who wonders, who dares, should I strive for more? Should I do something different? I like what I do as a librarian. As far as what I've done regarding the Project, I've gotten plenty of positive feedback and compliments from co-workers and supervisors up to the vice-presidential level.

I feel good about that part of my worklife, but I also want more. I've taught classes online for the college as an adjunct in the past. In the past couple of years though, my involvement in teaching has been curtailed, which is to be expected when you teach as an adjunct. However, I also am a full-time employee of the college who wants to spread his wings.

Unfortunately, my efforts to get back into teaching haven't borne fruit. While I've gotten encouragement from people in distance education, class assignments fall under the authority of individual academic departments. Looking at the department in question, it appears that online classes are being assigned to people currently based in that department.

As a consequence of not teaching online classes, I became bored. Although I was bored, I was also "stupid busy at work" as Dylan would say, but for different reasons. I became bored in the sense that even though I had so much stuff to do with the library & college-- Reference, Interlibrary loan, Serials, Electronic Databases, Book Acquisition, Weeding, and Anime Club Sponsorship-- I didn't feel challenged. Work became increasingly monotonous. Teaching was a needed outlet for me.

During this past year, I was involved with this Project. It was a challenge, and things had gotten to the point where I had no life outside work. Not only that, but there were times I didn't desire or want a life outside work. Like Ali, I often found myself wanting to do nothing-- especially during the times when I've been involved with the Project. It was pretty stressful, but I liked it. It was a challenge, and I could make use of my talents in a different manner.

Now that I've completed this challenge, I want more. That's one thing I liked about the Project. I felt involved.

For a year previous to my involvement in the Project, I didn't consider myself to be involved. I wasn't teaching. I felt like I was discouraged from pursuing opportunities at the college to be an adjunct. I felt like that I wasn't supposed to be involved. Now that the Project is over, I wonder if my professional life will go back to a state of incompleteness. I hope not.

I've been looking at posted job openings more frequently as of late. I don't know if I will apply for any new job openings, but who knows what the future holds? I wonder if there's a job opening that's interesting, challenging, fun, and pays well-- admittedly a tall order for a librarian, but I can always hope. And dream. I see openings for positions at places such as Abu Dhabi, Rome, and Bangkok, and I think about moving and working someplace different.

It doesn't have to be someplace different, of course. I like being here in the Jackson area, and I've made some wonderful friends. And if there's something that's in abundance here, it's challenges. I don't mean it in a bad way. Jackson, being Mississippi's capital city, has organizations and businesses that deal with different (and often times, similar) challenges.

I'll be 39 years old in a little less than three months, and I'm single. I have serious doubts that I'll find Ms. Right. If I'm not going to be in a meaningful relationship, then my work had better have some purpose.

The Dead White Male of the Month

Julius Caesar

On Guinness & St. Patrick's Day

"Guinness is the drink that kept the Irish from taking over the world. It would be unthinkable not to have a Guinness during a St. Patrick's Day parade. In fact, it would be spiritually wrong."

Kinky Friedman, after being seen drinking in a car at a St. Patrick's Day parade this past Saturday.

Thanks go to Bookslut for the heads-up.

Decompressive Thoughts

My work on the Project may be over, but I'm not really in the mood to go out. I didn't go out last night. I'm not going out tonight either. I thought about it, but decided otherwise.

The good thing is that this coming week is Spring Break at the college. I work when the college is open for business-- even when classes aren't in session. Since I earn annual leave, I'm going to work part-time next week. I'll sleep in & then come in to work at 12 noon most days.

The library's got to be open until 7 p.m. on Tuesday though. The college's offices stay open a little bit later that day in order to conduct business with people who work during the days. I'll be arriving to work at 3 p.m. that day.

We'll have Friday off though. A lot of the people who are working on the Project are 52-week employees such as myself. The college president declared Friday to be a holiday for all the 52-week people.

The Project being a major deal for the college & my involvement in it being in the past means that I need to play catchup on some of my other responsibilities. I desperately need to clean up my office. It's a mess. I've also got some serials-related stuff I need to do.

On the other hand, next week shouldn't be too bad. There's part-time work, but I also get to sleep & go out some.

Next Saturday is Mal's St. Paddy's Day Parade. It's festive, fun, & I'll be there.

Match.com Back to the Future

A few days ago, I was thumbing through match.com profiles, and noticed something that caught my attention. What caught my eye was that this woman mentioned her two previous usernames.

And I remember them.

Several months ago, I saw a profile that looked interesting, and so I sent an email. I didn't hear anything for about two or three weeks. I figured she had other plans.

On July 24, I received this email (personal information was altered):

Hiyas--

You sent a message to me with another profile I have (xxxxxxx). I just wanted to say thanks for the message, and if you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at abcdefgh (at) yahoo-dot-com or you can instant message me with the same username on Yahoo Messenger.

Take care,
mmmmmmmm


Being the information hunter-gatherer that I am, I looked up her yahoo profile. I saw a link to her blog. I clicked on the link, and saw that she had just gotten married a couple weeks previously, which I suppose explained why it took her awhile to contact me.

And so, I sent her this email the following day:

I'd rather not. It would have been nice if you had deleted that profile considering your recent marriage. At least your current profile mentions that you're not looking for a relationship.

Wishing you the best in your new life,
The Library Guy

I think my email shocked her. I never did get a response.

Big surprise there.

She removed her blog link from her yahoo profile. She also shut down that blog.

Now she's divorced (or at least that's what her profile says).

Big surprise there.

She has a new match.com profile.

And I'm not interested.

The Project is Over

Well, not really, but my involvement in it ended a little after 10 o'clock this morning. I imagine I'll be dragged back in it sooner or later.

Hopefully later. Much later. I need time to recover. Some of my colleagues are still working on the Project, but their part is supposed to end tomorrow.

Epilogue, 7:15 p.m., 9 March 2006
As soon as I posted, I got an email asking me to do one more thing. It shouldn't be too bad though. My involvement is almost over.

Epilogue the Second, 5:15 p.m., 10 March 2006
The one more thing took a good portion of my workday today, but proved to be a good thing. I finished at about 1:45 this afternoon.

Librarians vs. Nuns!

Librarians vs. Nuns!

Thanks go to Bookslut.

It's March Madness...

...and it's time for the Tournament of Books!

Here's the brackets. Personally, I'm rooting for Anansi Boys.

Thanks to Bookslut for the reminder.

I'm Batman

This makes perfect sense to me, especially since Batgirl was a librarian.

And Dave would be Maximus.



You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.

Batman, the Dark Knight 75%
Neo, the "One" 67%
Captain Jack Sparrow 63%
The Terminator 58%
James Bond, Agent 007 54%
Maximus 46%
Indiana Jones 46%
Lara Croft 42%
El Zorro 42%
William Wallace 42%
The Amazing Spider-Man 42%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

More High School Basketball

On Tuesday, I posted about my friend being the coach of a high school girls basketball team competing in the state championships.

Northeast Jones played Wayne County last night in the semifinals. This was the fourth time they've played each other this season. The Tigers and War Eagles are in the same division (that's 5-4A). The War Eagles won-- sweeping the Tigers. Wayne County is now 31-1 this season and plays Tunica Rosa Fort in the Class 4A Girls Final on Thursday.

Insulting Weasels

Harry has a recent post about Hurricane Katrina.

Tale of the Tape: Dolemite vs. Dolomite

Dolemite vs. Dolomite


Dolemite: Blaxploitation Film
Dolomite: Carbonate Rock and Mineral
Advantage: Dolemite

Dolemite: Title character portrayed by Rudy Ray Moore
Dolomite: Described by Déodat de Dolomieu
Advantage: Dolemite

Dolemite: Pimp persona of a comedian
Dolomite: Used as an ornamental stone
Advantage: Dolemite

Dolemite: Features actresses as kung-fu fighting whores
Dolomite: Rocks can't be kung-fu fighting whores
Advantage: Dolemite

Dolemite: Spawned the sequel The Human Tornado
Dolomite: Shaped Dolomite Alps
Advantage: Dolemite

Winner: Dolemite. The Mountains are big, but no match for the King of Party Records.

The Homestretch

The Project deadline was moved up a week to be a week from today instead of two weeks from now.

I've gone through most of what I need to go through at least once. There's still some documents I need to examine, but they're not at the point where they're available for me to check. I have had the opportunity to do some rechecking.

I hope the remaining documents are in good shape. I know I'll be swamped with Project work for the next few days.

I suppose that means I won't be going to a book signing tomorrow at Lemuria. Judge Pickering has been a friend of my family for years. He grew up not far from where my mother lived. He was in the same graduating high school class as an uncle of mine. His son was at one time my congressman, and as previously mentioned in this blog I'm acquainted with him and other members of his family.

Too bad. I'm sure I'd see some people I know from Laurel. Last year, Charles Marsh had a book signing and reading at Lemuria. I attended and saw one person from Laurel I knew, an Episcopalian rector with whom I often had coffee with at a coffee shop across the street from the library where I once worked.

I often had coffee and ate something there before I went to work. At one time, I was one of the regulars. Obviously, I'm not anymore. There was also an attorney, a couple of business owners, and a couple of others whose professions I can't remember at the moment. It's hard to believe it's been five and a half years since I started work at the college.