Foul as the Weather

Looking outside my office window, I see that the rain is nasty. It doesn't look good. I hate these kind of days.

I tend to be in terrible moods, and I'm not as accepting of idiocy. Thank goodness the day is about over.

I need to get some work done at the house. I've been doing household duties when I'm in the mood. I'm not in the mood, but it has to be completed.

I've been very tense. I need to do something to relax. Although going to basketball games have been fun, it's just not enough.

I tried exercising last year, and well, while it's beneficial, I've just not had the time in the past few months.

Between not waking up early in the mornings thanks to my sleep cycle being shot and being run ragged with work and honey-do projects, I've wanted to relax whenever possible. And I can't. I'm just wound up too much.

Here are some blogs that are intriguing:

I've been a fan of Strange Maps for several months, and I keep wanting to write good things about it on this blog. I keep forgetting. Thanks to Neil Gaiman for reminding me.

Librarian.net recently blogged about two sites I thought were interesting. Books That Make You Dumb is an interesting site. Essentially, it correlates what books are most popular at specific college campuses taking into account the average SAT scores for students.

Not in WorldCat is an interesting site devoted to books not found in WorldCat. There are photographs of the book covers as well as descriptions of the books in question.

Well, the rain has for the moment ended. I hope that's good news as far as my mood's status is concerned.

January Warmth

It's a warmer than usual day for a January day today. I've got another four hours or so until I leave the college.

This past weekend was pretty quiet. I didn't do too much.

I planned on staying at the house Friday. I thought it was going to be pretty bad, but when the temperature rose from 34 to 35 degrees I didn't think it was going to ice over. It didn't.

I went to Hal & Mal's for a little while. I got to visit with some people. I had fun.

I was still pretty quiet though. Maybe it was because I knew I had to be someplace at noon on Saturday, and I was also planning on going to the MSU-Ole Miss basketball game. Here's a play that I (and the people at ESPN) loved:



I thought about going to the JFP's Best of Jackson shindig yesterday, but didn't. I wasn't in the mood for getting out and doing something.

I think I would have had some fun there. I decided to play some Scrabulous and do a little work around the house instead.

Birthdays

My sister's birthday is today. I hope she likes the Sweet Potato Queen book I bought for her.

Today is also the 249th anniversary of Robert Burns's birth. This evening there will be Burns Suppers. I won't be attending one; however, I might have some scotch whisky.



Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

Afternoon Links

A Kinder, Gentler Area 51?
According to the Air Force Times, some civilian aviation journals call it "Homey Airport."

Whither Mel Gibson?
20th Century Fox's listing of the ten top movie weapons. Sadly, the Lethal Weapon did not make the list.

Now Introducing: The Flickr Page of Congress?
The Library of Congress has a Flickr page. Unfortunately, there aren't any candid photos of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at a Senate's New Year's party.

Dental Aftermath & Assorted Ponderings and Links

I'm about to sleep soon. I'm still in Hattiesburg.

The dental visit took more out of me than I had anticipated. I arrived for my 8:15 a.m. and left at 1:15 p.m. My old iPod mini ran out of battery power shortly before I completed my visit.

I've been taking it easy as well as Advil for pain. Things should be okay now. I've got another appointment with the dentist in a month.

I've been vegging this evening. I've been surfing the web, playing a little Scrabulous.

I got this book from another library last week. I've always liked the work of Milton Caniff, but really have been only familiar with his Steve Canyon work, but he made his name with Terry and the Pirates.

So far it's been an outstanding read. I've recently found out about a new series that IDW is publishing. So far, the first two books have been released. They look like they'll be interesting too.

I was reading Shifted Librarian a few days ago, and thanks to Jenny, I looked at these sites. The first is entertaining:



The second is historical, a flickr site devoted to photos taken of Normandy during World War II. Fascinating.

And lastly I took the Zombie Apocalypse Test:

43%

Thanks go to Lorelei Leigh for the link to the test.

The Weekend

Friday afternoon turned out to be quite busy. I didn't get a chance to work as much on a project as I had intended.

The reason why I didn't get to work on the project as much as anticipated? Something came up, as always.

We've noticed that we've not received some magazine titles lately, which meant that I had to check the website of our subscription service and send some email inquiries. I think that I'm finished with that project for the time being.

The college has also established email accounts for students this semester, and any official emails will be sent to their accounts. Faculty and staff members can also use these email accounts.

Now, I already have an email account thanks to the college; it's just that faculty and staff access to these accounts will allow students to be able to contact college employees more easily. At least, that's my interpretation.

I'm not a fan of keeping up with multiple email accounts. I must have six email accounts now. At least I'm able to forward emails sent to my new college email account to my old account.

I listened to a little of the MSU-Alabama basketball game yesterday afternoon. I also picked up my new glasses and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for food, Buzztime trivia, and the Ole Miss-Auburn game.

Now, I'm in Hattiesburg. I drove here this afternoon. I'm spending the night with my mother and stepfather.

I've got a dental appointment tomorrow morning in Laurel. Yes, this is how I'm spending my holiday.

Hopefully it won't be too bad. I need to remember to charge up the iPod. If I'm going to be in the chair for quite some time, I want to listen to some music.

I'll be back at the college on Tuesday. Maybe I can get some work done next week if I'm not affected too much by whatever pain reliever the dentist prescribes.

Friday Already?

It doesn't seem like it's Friday already. I've been busy.

The college has a new email system for students, and all official emails will be sent to the specific email addresses assigned to the students by the college. I was busy Tuesday morning helping students get their email accounts established.

Tuesday afternoon, I worked with the college's webmaster to make sure that the revisions were good, and I think they are. Some colleagues have made suggestions, and they are good suggestions, so I need to email the webmaster again.

After work Tuesday afternoon, I went to Starkville to see MSU defeat Kentucky in basketball. Jarvis Varnado is awesome.



I made it back to the house at 1 a.m., and I've been tired for the rest of the week. Coffee has been a very good friend of mine the past few days.

After work Wednesday, I got my eyes examined. I'm only a few years away from getting bifocals. I went to a couple of places looking for some decent frames. I've been wearing rimless glasses the past couple years. The styles haven't changed, and I want a slightly different look.

I didn't care too much for what the two places I went to had, so I went to a couple more places yesterday after work and made a selection. There's a chance the glasses could be ready this afternoon, but it'll most likely be tomorrow.

I spent some time yesterday looking through a newly subscribed database. It looks like it's going to be more helpful than I initially thought. My library likes to have hyperlinks to periodicals we have subscribe to that are also available in full-text, and it means more work for me.

The college will be closed Monday, which means a longer weekend for me. I'll be spending Monday morning at the dentist's office undergoing a procedure I mentioned previously, and no, it won't be like this:

First Night of School

I leave the library in a little less than an hour. The semester started today. I've been working on some projects.

The wiki project that I previously mentioned that needed to be altered hasn't been done yet thanks to the fact that the webmaster is swamped thanks in part to not having much time to do things last week because of the college's computer software system being down for a good part of one day and the tornado watch for the area on the following day. I hope we can get the alterations done tomorrow.

I had a good, mostly quiet weekend. I finally got the new Sweet Potato Queens book over to Emily Friday night. We both had hectic schedules last week, which meant we weren't able to meet. We had just enough time to meet and then see Juno. Great movie.

After the movie, I had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and kicked butt in RetroacTiVe- I've got the high score for the month thus far. I then went over to Hal & Mal's for a little while, but only a little while because I felt like I was about to crash.

Saturday and Sunday were quiet days for me. I watched some football games and did a little cleaning up of the house.

Tomorrow after work I might drive up to Starkville to see the MSU-Kentucky basketball game. It's at 8 p.m. which means I can make there in plenty of time. The thing is though I will be exhausted Wednesday morning.

Bill, Bill, and Bill

I was going to vote for Bill Richardson in the Democratic primary, but he decided to withdraw from the primaries yesterday. I don't know who I'm voting for now. In the meantime, I'm using Bill the Cat as a placeholder in my Soapbox section in the sidebar.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of Bills...

On Call in Hell

No. I'm not referring to the fact that I'm helping out at registration at the college. It's the title of this book.

It's a Christmas gift from my sister. She and the author are colleagues. I've not read it yet since I got it from the mailbox only yesterday, but it looks like an interesting read.

If it's the first day the cafeteria is open, the meal offerings must be fried chicken and baked chicken...

...and if you're wondering, I had the fried chicken (thigh and drumstick option).

The spring semester starts next week at the college. Today was convocation. The meetings went well I suppose.

I conducted one of the sessions. My dean asked me to adapt my continuing education course I did this past fall to a larger group, and so I did.

Registration will be going on at the college tomorrow. Some of my co-workers at the library will be helping.

I'll most likely will be working some with the college's webmaster. I found out yesterday that the wiki has to be altered and spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon talking to the webmaster and making needed edits.

Of Chiefs and Sweet Potato Queens

One of my co-workers saw me on television last night. I wasn't arrested, but I did see Malcolm McMillin.¹

I went to Lemuria to purchase three copies of the latest Sweet Potato Queens book. Two are birthday presents for my sister and my friend K, whose Queens group has been in the parade.²

Emily knew I was going and asked me to pick up a copy for her because she was under the weather, and so I did. I mailed K and my sister their books. Their birthdays are in the latter part of the month, so they should get them in time.

_________
¹It looked like he was in his Police Chief uniform.

²And I was a spud stud for that Queens group last year.

Remembrance & Genealogy

For many years January 3 has been a day of remembrance for me. On this day in 1990, my great-aunt who was like a grandmother to me died at the age of 86.

I remember walking from my house to hers when I was a child, and now her generation of the family is all but gone. I have one great-aunt in her 90s who's still living.

As far as my father's generation is concerned, most are also gone. If I recall correctly, I have about four first cousins once removed remainining from his mother's side of the family.

As far as his father's side of the family is concerned, I don't know how many first cousins are still living. I know of one who died last year. I need to speak to the family genealogist some time.

Work

It's quiet. I've got a little less than an hour left in my workday.

A lot of the day's been taken up with sorting through two weeks of mail, sending packages to folks in technical services, and checking in books loaned to other libraries that were returned while the college was closed.

I'm a bit peeved at the college's anti-virus software. I suspect there was an upgrade while the college was closed, and it's made the Clarion-Ledger website much more user-unfriendly than it is at the moment. It looks like there are similar issues concerning the ESPN site.

Day One

I've had a good break. Being with family and friends during this holiday season was fantastic.

I went to a New Year's party at a friend's house in Belhaven. I had fun socializing. The theme was the 1980s, and well, I was quite pathetic in guessing who my friends were dressed up as-- and I was a teenager in 1980. Pathetic.

It was great seeing friends I'd not seen in several days and several weeks and meeting people. There was one person from my hometown who I'd not seen in years. The last time I'd seen her some ten years ago she was buying Beanie Babies from my mother.

This afternoon I was going to get a bite to eat, and I locked myself out of the house. Joy. And me outside wearing a short sleeve t-shirt. After making a few calls, I got a locksmith to pick the lock. One resolution already broken.

To further solidify my status as the dumb one in the family,¹ I found out earlier this week that my oldest nephew aced the SAT. He scored a 1600; he's a National Merit Semifinalist; and like his mother (my older sister) he is graduating from school a year early. I'm not certain but I think that odds are that he'll be going to Duke.

As for me, I go back to work tomorrow. There's a part of me not looking forward to it. I liked being away from the college for a few days.

I spoke to one of my co-workers today. Another co-worker scheduled to be at work tomorrow won't be there. Her husband is under the weather and has an appointment with a doctor.

I might hear from a colleague from another library sometime in the next few days. She likes what I've done with the wiki, and there's a chance I might be doing some sort of presentation at a conference later this year.

_________
¹A combination of snark and truth. Yeah, I've got two masters degrees and have twice passed the Jeopardy contestant test, but my sister is a doctor whose research has appeared in national wire service news reports and, consequently, well-known news websites.