A few words as the holiday is about to begin

I've done nearly all my Christmas shopping. The only thing left is to go to Amazon.com and purchase gift certificates for my nephews. I've not seen them in so long. I've been busy at work, and their parents lead very busy lives as well.

I purchased calendars for my co-workers as well as a gift card from Lemuria. They seem to like what I've given them, and that's fantastic. My mother and stepfather are getting books. I got the last book in the mail from Amazon.com yesterday.

I've mentioned a project that I'd been working on this past semester. It's a wiki that's being used to help us at the library help, well, the faculty and students at the college. I've talked to the college's webmaster about it a few times in the past few months. Yesterday, he set it up so that the wiki can be accessed from the library's main page on the web.

We'll see how it works. He already likes it because it means I don't have to pester him with changes and additions all the time. I like it because if we need to change or add something, I can do it myself.

As many of you know, I like to read different columns and articles from various sites. This afternoon I was on the Chronicle of Higher Education's site and I read this column. Here's an excerpt I found fascinating:

George saw a quiet kid who rarely spoke up in class, who didn't participate in student government or athletics, who didn't cavort with a wide circle of friends. He saw a kid with plenty of self-doubt. I would watch professors deliver cogent lectures for an hour at a time, demonstrating a profound grasp of the material, and I would think, "I could never do that." I would read brilliant tomes, put them down and say, "I could never write anything like that."

There are a lot of times when I've felt just like him. I have a great appreciation for beauty, works of art, literature and such, but have never considered myself to be creative. My writing is not creative; it's workmanlike and functional, but still a heck of a lot better than being non-functioning.

I'm leaving the college later this afternoon for the winter break. I won't be back at work until January 2, 2008. I'm already looking forward to seeing the nearly two weeks of mail that will be at the campus post office.

I wish that everyone has a wonderful time whether you're staying at home, travelling a little ways, or going to far off places like Barcelona. As for me, I hope to have some fun this holiday season. At the very least, I'll be appreciating literature thanks to gift cards that I was given by co-workers, which I've already used them to purchase some books.

I have an impish nature at times, which means I used Christmas gifts to purchase a couple of Philip Pullman books: The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. I've already read The Golden Compass, and would like to see the movie.

I also purchased and am currently reading Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun. It's very good.

Another movie based on a book I want to see is No Country for Old Men. FP recommended the movie a few weeks ago, and I want to see it, partly because I'm such a fan of the Coen brothers. I've not read the book though, but I did buy it.

Trane and Roy Blount Jr. piqued my interest in The Dog of the South, so I used the gift cards to buy a copy of it.

I chose Neil Gaiman's American Gods as the book club's next selection, and as I was browsing through the bookstore, I realized that I'd not yet read Neverwhere. I purchased a copy of it as well. Once I finish up with the Trumbo book, I'll start up on American Gods.