Sto Lat!

Happy 34 th birthday Jeff!!

Can’t believe this will be the fourth birthday I get to share with you.
Here’s to many more *holds coffee up*

I love you buddy. *Pch!*

Another Video for your entertainment

These Shoes Rule. These Shoes Suck.

Just a heads up, the following video contains PG-13 Language. Just so you aren’t watching it within an ear shot of your boss at work or your mom.

Dilemma

Hmmm…..brave the cold, snow and slippery roads for a workout or do my homework?

Work off the chocolate i just ate or put myself to sleep reading online journal articles about Library Administration and Management?

Okay, where are my boots? Elliptical here I come ‘__’

“Woooooork it. Woooooork it.”

Will It or Will It Not?

I’m pretty sure I heard snow is in the forecast. Yeah, I’m certain I heard it.

I’m certain I’m seeing this picture predicting snow too. I’m just not certain the meteorologts are certain.

But I’m hoping they’re right (for once). I want snow!

Bringing the Past Back…Briefly

Using the Wayback Machine, I was able to capture some screenshots of what my extended family’s website (grandma’s side) looked like at various points throughout the years. The site was up and running until about a year or so ago. I have no idea what happened, if the distant cousin no longer wanted to maintain it or what. I can’t ask him either. He lives in Massachusetts and I’ve only met him like twice in my whole life. I would have taken it over if I had known he no longer wanted to keep it up.

There used to be a discussion board, photos, a memorial for deceased relatives, and a little bit of some family history. I wasn’t able to capture all that I wanted, but here is what I did get:

This is what the first site looked like back in 1999.

Here is what the site looked like in it’s last incarnation. Excluding the pixelation of the title.

Here is a picture circa 1941 (one of my favs) that I was able to pull up. My grandma is the third from the left.

She passed away in 1997. I miss her so much sometimes. I think she would have been quite proud of me if she were still alive. She was like my second mom, always picking me and my sisters up to take us over her house, camping, to the library and parks, etc. Of all my dad’s side of the family, I felt closest to her. Always will.

In the last year of my grandma’s life, at some point while she was still cognizant, she made me promise her that I would finish college.Not too many went to college in my family. I promised her, knowing that I would do it. If not for myself, then for her.

In 2004, I walked across EMU’s stage, diploma in hand.

Smiling proudly, I said to myself, “this was for you grandma. I kept my promise…”

PC or Mac…How about Both in One?

As a (sort of) techie, I find it important to to be versatile. Jeff and I both use a PC at work and a Mac at home. We are not limited to just our Macs at home though. We also have a PC Jeff built so he can use certain CAD software which is only available on a PC. I also choose to use the PC occasionally when doing specific tasks. So we are open to both. Which is why we grew excited at the idea of having both in one platform, especially with Vista having just been released. Currently, we have older Macs (without the Intel chips) but are seriously considering upgrading in the near future to streamline. Near = anytime in the next two years. Ha!

This leads me to ask though; why would one get a PC when one can get the best of both worlds in a Mac?

Microsoft demoes Vista… on an iMac

Running Vista on a Mac

*Update*
On to Office 2007 – Clippy has been killed. May the annoying little guy rest in peace.

Web 2.0

Great way to explain web 2.0.

Confessions of a library junkie

A co-worker sent this out to the entire library staff yesterday. I enjoyed it and thought I would share.

Byline: Iyna Bort Caruso
Date: 02/08/2007
Original appears here

- It’s Saturday morning, and I’m standing under a thick, damp sky
waiting for the doors to open. If only it was something as practical
as, say, a Macy’s shoe sale. But here I am, alone, waiting for the
doors to open to the library.

Librarius nerdus. I am a library nerd.

I’m at one library or another three or maybe four times a month. I
always need a novel or biography on my nightstand. I’m always
checking out a guidebook for travel planning. And I usually have a
pet project I need to research.

It’s a disjointed mix, a kind of Dewey Decimal System gone awry: “The
Dogs of Babel,” “Fodor’s Argentina,” and “How to Faux Paint Your
House.”

After years of shelf-trolling, I know my nearby Long Island libraries
well: The Freeport, N.Y., library has a good selection of
Prohibition-era history. Mineola has a sun deck and fireplace. I can
tell you that the folks who patronize my hometown library in
Rockville Centre are a pretty erudite lot. Anytime a book’s reviewed
on NPR, it’s gone faster than you can say “seven days only.”

East Meadow is the holy temple of tomes. Area librarians aspire to
East Meadow the way art curators aspire to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art.

In the shopping bag of overdue books I’m carrying is a book of my
own, which contains a fat list of book recommendations. It replaced a
folder of torn-out book reviews that grew unwieldy over the years.

At home, I have another important list that details every book I’ve
read since 1980. Only “To Kill a Mockingbird” is on it twice.

The list started out in ink and transitioned to a Royal manual
typewriter, an IBM Selectric, and, ultimately, a Dell PC. If my house
ever catches on fire, this document is coming with me.

From time to time, I read the list the way others might read a diary.
David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” had me giggling so hard on
the train once, tears rolled from my eyes and I laugh-snorted a
commuter out of a nap.

On an airplane flight, I had to put down “The Hemingway Book Club of
Kosov” every few pages. Different tears this time.

When it comes to fastidious record keeping, I’ve got company. The
Internet is filled with websites dedicated to personal reading lists.
Some are excruciatingly detailed spreadsheets with author, date,
summary, and number of pages. Like they say, if only this effort
could be harnessed for societal good.

The last time I was at the library, I hoisted a pile of books onto
the checkout counter and pulled out my card. It was bent and
misshapen. The lamination was peeling off and the bar code eroding.

I handed it to the librarian, not the least bit ashamed. After all, I
am a library junkie among people who understand these things.

“Time for a new card,” the librarian said flatly.

I nodded, slightly disappointed that she didn’t see the wear and tear
as a token of devotion.

But I’m not yet quite ready to replace that much-used library card.
Like an overstamped passport, it has taken me to some great places.

By: Iyna Bort Caruso
(c) Copyright 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.

The Christian Science Monitor– an independent daily newspaper providing context and clarity on national and international news, peoples and cultures, and social trends. Online here .

Click here to order a free sample copy of the print edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

4 Out Of 5

I just found out I got a 4 out of 5 on one of the easiest first projects in my website development class. The instructor (who is really cool by the way) said I did not close a couple of tags right. Apparently I accidently closed a br tag like this br/. I must have overlooked it. Additionally I left out some other small element. Whatever. I messed up my 4.0 GPA last semester when I got an A-.

Guess my life is over. Might as well jump off a bridge. Ha! Ha!

One of the most important things I have learned has come from the director of the library I currently work. One day he asked me how I was doing. I told him how happy I was that the semester had ended and that I aced my classes. He then pulled me aside and said “Have I ever given you my shpeal?” I looked at him baffled and said, “I don’t think so.” He then said “I tell this to every intern that walks in the door. Grades don’t matter.” I didn’t know what to say. I mean, a part of me knows that, but I still feel the pressure to do well from society and so on. He then said, “Sarah, in all my years I have never once asked a job candidate what their grade point average was in school, etc. It just doesn’t matter. I can tell by talking to a person whether or not they have what it takes to succeed.” I just stood there stunned. I didn’t know what to say other than listen. I respect this man, I mean he went to University of Michigan, has worked for the library for over 30 years (we had his retirement party at work today. He’s moving to Maine where he has built a house on the ocean.). His words meant more than any instructor because they come from a place of experience. Something no school could ever teach.

So now every time I get down on myself for not getting the BEST grade, I remember his wise words and know that I did my best. I will be okay with or without the perfect score.