Holiday Road (and Food) Sign

Guess what state is home to this billboard?

Enough is Enough

I love* my public library, but three trips in one day is a bit much, even for me. Here's how it went down:

I stopped at lunch time to pick up a hold (Blue Balliett's The Calder Game), and at the same time returned two audiobooks (visit 1). Then I motored on down the street to UPS and the post office, where I opened another book in the car and discovered one of the discs from a book I had just returned.

So, after the post office I headed back to the library for visit 2 to return the errant disc. While there, I decided to ditch the J.A. Jance I was listening to (terrible narrator, stiff writing and boring story) in favor of another Val McDermid.

However, while later ripping the cd to put on my mp3 player, I found that half of disc 3 is unplayable, thus necessitating visit 3 to pick up the print copy (we don't have it at work).

I really can't complain much, however, since on all 3 visits I managed to snag a precious spot in the curbside 30 min parking, rather than having to venture into the dreaded parking garage (had to go around the block once on visit 3 to wait for a spot to open).

BTW, I finished 8 books in July, the most in a month since I started keeping track again last year. It helped that two of them were short YA's and one was Eclipse, which I started a long time ago. But still...


*Well ok, I love the idea of a PL. My feelings for my current PL are firmly in the "like" zone.

Pedestrian Safety

In Idaho I saw do-it-yourself crossing guard equipment for the first time--colored flags pedestrians can carry from one corner to another as they cross busy intersections.


My aunt said they have the flags in some towns in Utah too. Good thing, given all those Utah Drivers out there!

Food-Free Post

This morning my coworker J and I went to speak to University Seminar instructors. They teach the optional "Intro to College Life" class that has a library component, and we encourage them to come to the library for a session with a librarian. For many first-year students, that visit is only their first or second time in our library, and we count on that opportunity to introduce them to what's here (I sure wish that class was mandatory!). A large percentage of them will never come back with another class to work with a librarian. I went to speak to this group on the same weekend a year ago, though I did it solo last time. So how did the two experiences compare?

• I'm noticeably fatter this year.
• I stayed up just as late last night as a year ago, but it wasn't to work on slides in my office.
• I knew many people in the room this time, and several offered kind praise about my past work.
  
• I'm back in my office blogging after the presentation, nearly at the same minute of the day as last year. To be honest, I haven't listened to that Lyle Lovett cd very much since I got it. Today I'm listening to The Joshua Tree and feeling very "in the groove." (I think I need to get the remastered edition I linked to here. What do you think?)
  
• I don't have all the answers, but I understand the situation much better, having actually taught a few of these classes now. I think we made some improvements in the program last year, but we still need to make the instruction more active and digestible. I'm happy to have someone to partner with this time around.
• Last year, I came back to the office and did some follow-up work, and then probably went home and lazed away the afternoon. I had some work to do back then, but really no understanding of what was coming once school started, and nothing like the long to-do list I have now. This year, I'm already late to a Church/seminary activity that's going to run until 8 or 9 pm, I haven't finished the follow-up work from this morning, and I'm not sure when I'm going to work on the training presentation I have to take to a county school inservice conference next week.
  

Here's one thing that's possibly different. Last year I was new and excited (as excited as I ever get, which maybe isn't much) about working with these instructors and teaching these classes. Now, the bloom is off the rose and I've been around the block once. I've struggled all summer with motivation and interest (yes, I struggle with that every day, but it's been really bad this summer), and I haven't worked nearly as hard as I should have on various projects, including this one. But talking about it with J this week and talking to the instructors this morning, I felt a tiny spark of something like enthusiasm. I wish I could stay here for a few more hours and gently blow on that spark to nurture it into a flame. Instead, it's going to have to fend for itself against the wind while I go off to other activities (for which I have a whole other set of motivation problems!). So, I'm hoping it stays nice and dry for the next several days. If it's raining Monday morning, that little spark doesn't have a chance!

Holiday Food Again

Another stop on the holiday rounds was Pirate O's, a gourmet grocery store in Draper. I passed up the candy g-string, but came out with a Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate Mousse bar (never seen that flavor before), some Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, a Mozartkugel ball, some Botan rice candy, and a Lindor Hazelnut truffle (should have gone for two Mozartkugel's instead). I also bought what I seem to remember was a Schluckwerder marzipan loaf, for some odd reason having decided I didn't want to pay for my favorite brand, Niederegger. Not sure why I was taken with such an odd spasm of frugality, but I was.


The best part of Pirate-O's, however, was actually not the candy but the meat and cheese locker. All the cold beverages, meats and cheeses are in a separate freezer room, separated from the rest of the store by a strip curtain door. I could live in a room like that! The comfy temp seduced me into picking up a bottle of Izze Sparkling Grapefruit, but I again decided I didn't want to pay that much money, and took another trip back into the cooler to return the drink to the shelf.




*I know this post sounds terribly snobbish, but the fact is that I take my food confectionery seriously. Lest you think I'm an elitist, you should know that I consumed an Idaho Spud (from Maceys grocery) while writing this post.