Bakesale

Okay, does anyone have a good cookie recipe? I need to bake something for Thursday. This week we have been raising money at work (Relay for Life) by having a bakesale. Everyone signed up for one day this week. Kind of funny how we are trying to raise money for cancer research and promote healthy living by selling baked goods, ehh? What else would people buy if we don’t bribe them with sinful goodies? A few of us talked about selling fruit, but thought against it as fruit goes bad faster. I dunno….I still like the idea though. So if anyone has a “healthy” cookie or muffin recipe, I would love to consider it. I was even thinking about bringing in bagels to mix it up a bit. Autumn, do you have a good vegan recipe? There is at least one vegan here at my library and noone ever thinks of her. I’d like to make something for everyone. Nothing too fancy or expensive though. Interns don’t make a lot of money as we all know.

Thanks ahead of time everyone!

Last Chance

This is the last week I will be accepting donations for Relay for Life. If you are interested in purchasing a Luminaria please contact me before Friday.

I can’t wait to take part in this event. It’s going to be a lot of fun and for a good cause.

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.

Party Girl and Cheese

We somehow found time to squeeze in a movie last night. A fun 1993 Parker Posey movie called Party Girl, which is apparently a rite of passage for anyone thinking about or attending library school. Parker Posey plays a selfish and self centered 24 year old named Mary who finds herself in quite a bit of trouble after throwing one of her infamous “rent” parties. She turns to her librarian godmother who bails her out of jail and gives her a job as a clerk so she may pay back her debt. The godmother doesn’t expect much out of Mary, always comparing her to her flaky dead mother. Mary attempts to prove her wrong, but more often just lives up to her already tarnished reputation. It isn’t until she takes her life more seriously that she grows up. In the end, she not only ends up falling for a young Lebanese man (so cute), but for librarianship itself. Awww……

It has it’s moments of cheese of course. The movie could have done without the steamy sex scene in the library stacks (which was pure comedy for us). And the flirtatious scene between the dj and pole-like dancer in the club. But I guess every good/bad movie has to have one or some of THOSE scenes. For Jeff to have said he likes it….means it has some kind of redeeming quality. Unless it is the overwhelming taste of cult classic blinding all judgement. Mmmmm…..

Taken in small doses, cheese is good for you. This movie should be on your list of cheeseball movies to see. Unless you are lactose intolerant, in which case I will say…your loss!

Did anyone see this when it actually came out?! I can’t believe I never heard of it before now. Hmmm….let’s see… I would have been in 11th grade (16 yrs old) when it came out. I must have went and saw Reality Bites the one night I had money to go out and see a movie. Ha ha!

Beauty is Nothing Without Brains

Hilarious.

Learning, growing, and changing

The “Hail to the Victors” blog entry has been deleted for the mere fact that it was annoying in some browsers and quite possibly to Ohio State fans:) Hee hee. Apparently it played automatically in Safari and I ‘m not a big fan of movies/audio starting automatically, unless it is on Myspace. To be honest, I’m not entirely fond of Safari either. I LOVE Firefox. It even makes my blog looks better. The Frecs & Specs Logo at the right hand corner of my blog is suppose to be the same color as the rest of the blog, but in Safari and Explorer (at least my version at work) it looks like a separate blue box. So I have to figure out how to fix that.

Not much to report about myself people. I’m turning into a lame-o. All I do is go to school and work. In between those two things I’m most likely just eating, sleeping, reading, blogging, doing homework, showering, driving, or uploading pictures to Flickr. Of course, not always in that order. But yes, always that boring.

I’m really not going to complain though. I love my life right now. Even if I don’t have time to read as many books for pleasure or visit my family and friends as often as I would like. I am learning. I am growing. I am changing. I can feel it everyday. When I started working as an intern 8 months ago, I used to think my co-workers were speaking a foreign language. The only thing I could do was tune their strange words out . It was like I was all of a sudden in a country called “Techy.” However, like any foreign country, if one is there long enough they begin to pick up on words and learn the lingo just by being emersed in the culture. I’m truly amazed at how much I have learned in such a short period of time. I wish I had thought about chronicling my intern experience on a separate blog. But snippets of my experience will have to do here on Frecs & Specs. You won’t mind right?

As you all recall I was quite nervous about teaching my first blogging class. I was so nervous I could barely sleep the night before. Since then, I have taught three blogging classes and one Microsoft Word class. I have become more and more confident with each passing class and I am constantly evaluating what I can do different and better the next time around. I never thought I would feel this comfortable with speaking in front of people. I should say “Teaching” people since speaking is something altogether different. Regardless, I just feel good doing it now. It’s truly a great feeling to know you are teaching someone something new and they WANT to learn it. It’s so gratifying. Often I forget how exciting computers and technology really are because I have used them for so long. Whenever I see an 80 year old get excited about manuevering the internet or e-mailing it reminds me of that child-like excitement I have not had in a while. It really gives me a refreshing perspective, something I truly need every now and again. So yeah, I’m learning a lot and I am growing a lot. I can’t even imagine where I’l be when the internship ends in a year and a half. What I do know is I’ll have become more confident in my abilities and in myself and for that alone….I am grateful.

I should also tell you that I will be teaching more of the classes as the months go on. I’ve sort of just been getting comfortable with it gradually, but come January I will begin teaching Excel and Powerpoint classes as well. Then, in the spring or summer I am hoping to introduce a photo hosting class and something else. Not sure yet what they will encompass, but I have time to figure it out.

In the meantime, I am just living day to day, week to week, taking in as much as I can before it all comes to what will seem like an abrubt end. I will then have to use what skills I have aquired and find a real job. One which will not include the word “intern” in the job description.

Scary.

Mambo

I know I don’t get very many techies to my blog, but if by chance someone ends up here that happens to know a little something about Mambo (the open source CMS)….I could use some help. For the library I work, I researched intranet options and decided to go with Mambo. It is installed and I am now testing things out. I am in search of a good scheduling mambot or module. I can’t seem to find any. If anyone can direct me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

If I don’t find one, I guess I’ll have to figure something else out.

SirsiDynix / SirsiDynix Institute

Wow! I just realized Sirsidynix is headquartered in Huntsville, AL. I’ll have to drop by there when Jeff and I go in a little over a week. Perhaps I should call first though.

Coincidentally, it’s 10 minutes away from my dad’s house. How crazy is that?!

How I learned about it:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stephen Abram Named Chief Strategist of the SirsiDynix Institute

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Nov. 6, 2006 – The SirsiDynix Institute, a forum for professional development in the library community, announced today that Stephen Abram, vice president of Innovation at SirsiDynix, was recently named chief strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. Abram will continue in his role as vice president of Innovation at SirsiDynix.

The SirsiDynix Institute is an ongoing forum for professional development in the library community. The Institute monitors library industry trends and issues of concern to the library community. The Institute will utilize Abram’s renown nationally and internationally to attract speakers that are industry leaders in the industry for the Institute’s webinars, executive conference and other events. Abram will also assist in developing themes and topics for these events and will continue to speak and represent both SirsiDynix and the SirsiDynix Institute at national and international library and technology events.

A leading, international librarian, Abram has been with SirsiDynix since 2004. Abram has more than 25 years of experience with libraries, both as a practicing librarian and in the information industry. He is a frequent keynote speaker on issues that affect libraries, their communities and librarians. Abram is the president-elect of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and is set to serve as president of SLA beginning 2008. He is a Fellow of SLA, and, in June 2003, he was awarded SLA’s highest honor, the John Cotton Dana Award. Abram is also the past president of the Canadian Library Association and was president of the Ontario Library Association in 2002.

“The SirsiDynix Institute has been near and dear to my heart since its inception,” said Abram. The Institute reaches out to the library community as a whole and is not tied to particular technologies. Not all in the community share the same technologies; they do, however, share the same concerns, hopes and visions for their libraries. I look forward to working even more closely with the SirsiDynix Institute to continue to grow and expand its reach and impact throughout the industry.”

Web Librarian

This job was just sent to the Listserv and I soooooo wish I were in a position to apply for it. How many jobs start you at such a nice pay rate AND are in fun New York?! I could totally do it all now if I had my degree and completed with my internship already. *Sigh* Maybe there will be another opportunity like this in the future….when I am done and have some more experience under my belt.

Web Services Librarian

The Ehrman Medical Library, of New York University Medical Center, invites applicants for the position of Web Services Librarian. The Web Services Librarian will join the Library Medical Informatics Group (LMIG) in the provision of high-quality computing services to the faculty and staff of the Ehrman Medical Library, as well as to the Library’s constituencies in the Medical Center. The Web Services Librarian will take the lead role in coordinating the design, creation and maintenance of the Library’s web sites so as to support development of unique web-based tools and resources tailored to meet the teaching, learning and research needs of the Library’s users and staff.

Responsibilities:

* design, develop and maintain Library web sites and Library web projects; maintain a consistent site architecture under guidelines established by the NYU Medical Center Information Technology Department
* work closely and collaboratively with Public Services librarians in developing creative web-based tools and resources
* ensure close integration among Library web sites and other Library and Medical Center online systems and resources.
* promote the use of current technologies, such as wikis, information portals, XML, and web architecture into interface design and implementation.
* lead efforts to evaluate utility and efficiency web-based Library services and resources using web log analysis and other tools
* facilitate communication and coordination among Web team members, branch libraries, content developers, and instruction/outreach services
* participate on Library-wide and Medical Center-wide committees
* provide staff training and ongoing technical support
* create appropriate templates to assist content authors; provide ongoing training to content authors
* teach classes in computers skills to students, staff and faculty at the Medical Center
* participate in staffing the Information Desk
* engage in research and service to meet requirements for University promotion and tenure

Requirements:

The ideal candidate will possess: an MLS from an ALA-accredited school, have 2-3 years library experience, including experience building and maintaining high quality web sites. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment. Technical skills include knowledge of, and demonstrable skill in HTML/XML, MySQL/Oracle, Cold Fusion, Dreamweaver. Familiarity with Photoshop, Flash and streaming audio/video preferred.

This is a full-time faculty position reporting to the Associate Director for Library Informatics. Salary will begin at $55,000 and is negotiable depending on experience.

New York University Medical Center is located in mid-Manhattan and is affiliated with Bellevue Hospital, the Manhattan VA Hospital, and the Hospital for Joint Diseases.

Review of applications will begin immediately with a closing date of October 30, 2006. Submit letters of application and CV, including URLs for recent web sites designed by the candidate to:

Umm….yeah.

Okay, so I haven’t felt much like writing lately. Especially since I had a work night from hell. All I’m going to say after tonight is….please, please, please consider upgrading your computer or OS if you have one or all of the following by chance:
A) Windows 98
B) Floppy drive (which is useless for your excessively large Excel files)
C) Low Memory (which I’m surprised opens those Excel spreadsheets)
C) CD-ROM drive (no burner)
D) USB ports (but no driver installed)
E) You do not have an ethernet port nor do you have a dongle for the card (so we can NOT connect to the network at this point in time…plus those might be hard to come by considering how OLD your computer is)
F) You DO NOT have Windows Special Edition 2 like you said you had, which makes the USB driver we so kindly downloaded and burned onto a disk for you and then installed for you….completely useless (which was WAY above the call of duty), which means you may not be able to get those files off your archaic computer because the drivers listed only went back to Special Edition 2 not 1. whatever you have. Also, after you first ejected the CD-ROM, that horrendous noise coming from the drive (before we put the disk in) was your computer screaming “I’m dying!!! Let me go already!!!” Lastly, it is NOT my fault you lost your only backup copy (4 years worth) on one of our lab computers. YOUR CD-RW failed you. It happens. Technology sometimes fails us. Blame the technology. Blame yourself. But DO NOT blame me. Always make multiple copies of something THAT important to you.

Seriously. Let this patron’s scenario be a lesson. Upgrade to the 21st century already so you are not upset and frustrated after you lose your one and only backup file and cannot get the last copies OFF your ridiculously old and useless computer. Plus, it makes librarians and tech staff happy that you understand the library’s limitations and liability.

Anyway…moving on. Barely. Perhaps an aspirin or many will do.

*Shifting gears*

I’m pretty excited about tommorrow evening. A whole new season of Grey’s Anatomy begins!!! I LOVE that show which explains why I felt the urge to capitalize all four letters of the word “love.” I just watched the sneak peak of the season premiere here. I can’t wait to begin my addiction all over again. McDreamy take me away………..since Calgon won’t anytime soon. Or ever, since we do not have a bathtub

McDreamy will do though.