Tagged!

I just got tagged by made in a treehouse, so it's question and answer time! Yay!

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow, 10 years ago I was just about to turn 16! I remember that I was glad to be out of school for the summer, because I had been feuding with some friends and needed a break. But I was also busy planning my sweet 16 party, which I wanted to be huge... and it was!



What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Well, it's the end of the day - so here are 5 things that were on my to-do list:

1. Build arcade game out of cardboard boxes at work - it's our display for Summer Reading Club, and I started working on it today with a coworker. A little late, I know, but we should have no trouble getting it done for the kickoff Saturday. I hope it turns out good!
2. Put up SRC posters - done and done.
3. Organize old family video tapes so they can be put on DVDs - I'm working on this one all week.
4. Help Jared update his resume - currently working on that.
5. Play Wii Fit - it was on the list, but I probably won't get to it tonight, unfortunately. It's so much fun though!

What are my favorite snacks?
Oh man - I love eating Doritos dipped in cream cheese. That is my comfort snack. I also love pudding - right now I'm obsessed with rice pudding. Really, I would much rather just snack throughout the day than eat full-sized meals. I have heard that it is more healthy to eat this way, but it hasn't worked out well for me thus far.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire?
Pay off my students loans - and probably Jared's too, just because I'm that nice. I would buy a house and pay off any other debt I have, then give money to my mom because she deserves it. I would probably also buy cool gifts for my friends and throw some big ridiculous party in the new house. It's too bad I'm not a billionaire, because that all sounds so awesome.

Places I have lived:
Born in Akron, Ohio
Portage Lakes, Ohio for a few months after I was born
Canal Fulton, Ohio
Atlanta, Georgia for about a year when I was 2
Canal Fulton again for a few years
Sugarcreek, Ohio from 2nd-5th grade
New Philadelphia, Ohio from 6th-12th grade
Oxford, Ohio for college (Miami U!)
New Philadelphia, Ohio for the summer after graduation
Columbus, Ohio for grad school - present :)

Hmm, who to tag? Well, let's go with The Chaser Nation and Two-Headed Blog, just because I can. I look forward to seeing embarrassing pictures of you from 10 years ago! (Kidding... kinda!)

Time? What time?

Is it the end of May already? Lately it seems that I have been too busy to even think. Between work and being the Company Mangaer for Spin Columbus, I haven't been home or online nearly as much as usual. In fact, last night I watched 18 WebbAlerts - that's how far behind I had gotten! But I was determined to watch them all, because Morgan Webb is my hero.

By the way, I love my DVR - since I'm gone all of the time, I miss most of the shows I really enjoy watching. But no more. Like the new American Gladiators - I can watch it anytime if I'm gone on Monday night. Oh and if you don't watch that show yet, you really should. After watching this week's show (and being introduced to the new, "silent" gladiator named Steel), I thought it would be funny to come up with some rejected gladiator names. I can't remember what I came up with right now, but they were probably funny. Unfortunately, Carson Daly did that exact gag on his show that night! I don't know what makes me more upset - that someone beat me to the punch, or the fact that it was Carson Daly that beat me to the punch. Sadness.

Now that I'm caught up with TV and the internet, I need to start reading - I have an ever-growing pile of books that I just haven't had time to sit down and dive into yet. Maybe soon?

Discoveries

I made a very interesting find today - on my library's teen website, in the "Express It" section, there is a place for teens to submit poetry they have written. Some are silly, some are kinda depressing, but all of them are just amazing! I don't really know that much about poetry, but I am really enjoying reading through what the teens have submitted. And some of the regular posters comment on each other's poems, which is really cool.

A random list of things I have learned over the past month that may or may not be interesting:

1. No matter what flavor of milkshake you order from McDonald's, they will give you a mix of all of the flavors. A few weeks ago I swear I got a Chocolate-Strawberry-Mint milkshake. Yikes.

2. I LOVE meetings. Of any kind. Even unproductive ones. Most people hate them, but I just love them. Knowing that I have a meeting makes my day go better. Someday, perhaps, I'll be sick of them, but not anytime soon.

3. I really like the clicking sound that high heels make on hard floors.

4. If you want to light a gas grill, you should turn the gas on first. You should not just turn knobs and hit the ignition button over and over, wondering why the damn thing won't light. Just a suggestion.

5. Green is the new black.

6. If you have a bumper sticker on the back of your old crappy car that talks about how much we all pollute the air, you are a hypocrite. You're polluting the air just as much as the rest of us.

7. I enjoy going to the grocery store by myself. It's strangely relaxing and makes me feel like a grown-up. And yes, I know that I'm already a grown-up, but that doesn't mean I always feel like one.

8. I like to sew because the sound of my sewing machine will always remind me of my mother.

9. I am obsessed with Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and I want the sequel to come out RIGHT NOW.

10. I can't wait to see the new Indiana Jones movie! Eeeeee! :D

Misery loves the BMV

I'm just going to say it: going to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles can be a nightmare.

I don't know why, but every person that works at the BMV seems to hate their life. And because of that hate, they make your visit miserable. Nobody smiles in the BMV. You take your number, wait for your turn, and pray that you brought the 5 forms of ID that they require. Oh, you wanted to pay by credit card? Sorry. No license for you. Did you spend time this morning trying to look nice for the photo? Forget it. You're going to look like a deer caught in headlights no matter how you do your makeup. The best thing you can hope for is to leave in a mildly bad mood. At least then there might be a chance of your day improving. It helps if you have something fun to do after you leave.

I can't completely blame the workers. But it would be nice if they had some customer service skills. Is a smile too much to ask for?

Anyhow, this morning I went to the BMV with Jared so he could renew his tags. We went early, in hopes that the workers there might not be quite as jaded first thing in the morning. We made sure he had his checkbook (they do take personal checks as payment) and 2 forms of ID. Luckily, we didn't have to wait, and he had everything he needed with him. Sure, the lady that helped us had a scowl on her face the whole time, but it was a quick and painless process.

We walked out into the parking lot, and turned to look at each other. "That was the least miserable BMV experience I've ever had," I said. Jared agreed. We finished the morning by going to First Watch for breakfast, which was deliciously awesome.

Until next time, BMV...

Mediocrity, maybe

I decided to do a little facebook stalking tonight, and I ended up kinda... bummed out. There are a lot of people I'm friends with on facebook because we went to high school or college together, and since I don't talk to most of them anymore it's nice to see what they are doing now. The problem is that many of them are doing things that are so cool or exciting that it makes me feel extremely boring in comparison. For instance, I know a guy who studies endangered birds - how cool is that? There's also a girl I know that went to school to be a governess. A governess! Then there's the people who have moved to California or Florida or are studying abroad or other things that I just wouldn't have thought of. It's so exciting, and I'm happy for all of them.

And then there's me. What do I do with my life? I become a librarian in the same state that I grew up in and have lived all my life. Does anyone look at my facebook profile and think, "Wow, look at Erica! I'm totally jealous of her awesome life!" Probably not. Most people think, "Wow, you're a librarian... wait, you need a degree for that?"

But the thing is, I really love my job. And I'm very happy here in Ohio, even if it's the same state where I was born and raised. (At least I'm in a different city, right?) So be jealous of me, facebook friends. I (enthusiastically) deal with the general public on a daily basis and live to tell the tale - that's pretty damn impressive.

Concert Mania

I absolutely love going to concerts in the summer. LOVE IT. I'm not sure that a summer has gone by since my senior year of high school that I haven't gone to a concert. And since I save all of my ticket stubs in a special concert scrapbook, I could probably confirm that fact. Anyhow, here's the lineup so far:

THIS SUNDAY - Kids in the Hall will be at the Wexner Center at 8pm (OMG OMG OMG) and I just bought tickets for Jared and I to go. *squeal*

July 13th - Poison!!!! Hell yes. They were so awesome last summer, and I can't wait to see them again!

August 9th - Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams! Yes, I know what you are thinking. And yes, I am totally going. My mom is obsessed with Rod Stewart - always has been - and I've wanted to see Bryan Adams in concert since I was 12. I'M SO THERE. I'm surprising mom with tickets for Mother's Day, so don't frickin' tell her or I'll kill you, m'kay?

I hope there are more. I'm missing out on seeing Third Eye Blind this Tuesday night, but I'll live. I've seen them before. I will also get to see a band at the Ebay convention, but they haven't announced who will be there yet, so I don't know how excited to be. But hey, I'll be in Chicago, so it's all good. I'm going to be having a blast regardless!

Clean Slate

I decided that I was sick and tired of the "normal" blogger templates, so I found myself a new one. What do you all think? I am enjoying how clean and refreshing it feels. Like a nice, hot shower. Which I need to go do, since I have to get to work!

Excitement for this week - my department gets to meet with Helene Blowers today, of whom I am a huge fangirl. (As a side note, I'm hoping she doesn't think I'm a complete idiot - she came up to me the other week and said, "Hi Erica! I know you from facebook!" and I just stared at her for a minute because I didn't recognize her right away. Talk about embarrassing!) Also, tomorrow is a kick-off meeting for a project I got invited to be involved with, so I'm pretty psyched for that too.

Did anyone else notice that the Internet April Fool's Jokes were just not up to par this year? My favorite though is in Google Docs - if you open up a new document, then go to the file tab, you will have the option to create a paper airplane. I like AF jokes better when they are fun and somewhat hidden - especially when we all know that Google puts out a million jokes today.

Did anyone get you good today? Online or in person?

Who needs money?

Not long ago, I ordered a t-shirt from a website called T-Shirt Hell - this shirt, to be precise (in pink!). When I got to the payment options screen, one of the options was "Sexual Favors". Of course I clicked on it, and this is the message I got:



Hilarious!

Vote Librarian in 08!

I just read on Ohio Library News that Jennifer Sechler, a children's librarian from the Westerville Public Library, is one of 10 finalists to be the CMO - Chief Magic Official - for Disney! If chosen, she'll get to entertain and bring magic to families visiting Disney parts around the world. AKA, the best job ever. You can read a statement from Jennifer in the post from Ohio Library News. I don't know Jennifer, but librarians stick together - especially librarians from Central Ohio! Please vote for her at:

http://www.dreamcmo.com/jennifer

You can vote as many times as you want until voting ends tomorrow. So get to it! Help a librarian out, would ya?

Muppet Time

A quick post because it's been far too long:

Happy St. Patrick's Day, whatever that means to you, and enjoy this video of the Muppets' rendition of "Danny Boy," one of my favorite stetches from The Muppet Show.



Thanks to BoingBoing for posting this earlier today.

I'm actually kinda sad today, because I usually make a big deal out of St. Patrick's Day. I typically wear green (I still might do that...), I've hosted parties, I've gone out drinking with friends, I try to get everyone else excited about it - I've even been featured in a news article because I blogged about a party I was hosting in 2006. But this year, I'm just not feeling it. I have no plans to go out, nor did I have or attend any parties this weekend. Not that there were any parties I could go to anyway - everyone else I know has seemed to forget about St. Patrick's Day, too.

But you know what? 2008 has been a great year. So what if St. Patrick's Day is a bust? I'm going to kick back tonight, maybe with a drink (Baileys feels appropriate), and celebrate by enjoying a nice evening with Jared and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (cause, well, that's just inevitable). Cheers!

Can't you just get on that Google thing and find out?

One of the fun parts about my new job is that I get to go around to each division at the main library and go through a brief orientation. Yesterday was my day to learn about the children's division (known here as the Center for Discovery). I got a tour, talked with one of the managers about children's programming, and observed a baby laptime program. Now, as far as I can tell, "baby laptime" might as well be called "bounce your baby on your lap..time," because that's mainly what it consisted of. It's a great program - the babies seemed to love it, and it gave the parents/caregivers a chance to mingle. I sat in the back, and occasionally some of the babies either crawled over to me, or just stared at me. One in particular stared at me for quite some time, so I started to make funny faces, hoping he would laugh. Instead, he started to cry. Whoops! I guess that's why I'm not a children's librarian.

One of the not-so-fun parts about my job is dealing with people who insist that you can find what they need "in the computer." As if a computer is a magical encyclopedia that contains all of the world's knowledge, and "that Internet thing" surely will tell them exactly what they need to know, if only I would look in the right place. Sure, there's a lot you can find on the Internet... but not everything. If it's not there, it's not there. That's a difficult concept for some people to grasp, especially for those who are not familiar with computers or have never used the Internet. I have had angry people tap furiously on my monitor screen, exclaiming, "Just look in there! It will tell you!" I can do my best, folks, but I can't do magic.

If nothing else, my job will never, ever be boring. I'm in a great field. :)

Even the Saudis want overpriced coffee

I just read this story, courtesy of Pharyngula, a science blog I now read on a regular basis.

My question here is this: if the family area in Starbucks is the only place women can sit with men, why was she arrested? Wasn't she abiding the law? Putting aside the fact that I think religious laws (especially ones like this) are completely bogus and unfair, and forgetting that she is American and probably an easy target, I still don't understand why she was arrested for sitting with a man when she was sitting in the only place in the restaurant that women are allowed to sit with men. I read some of the comments on this story, and while most were pretty retarded, a few made a good point - if you are going to accept a job in a country with laws like these, you should know what you are getting yourself into. But I don't know this woman's situation, and I (of course) completely disagree with how she was/is being treated.

Even with all our problems, I'm very glad to be living in a country where I have the freedom to be a woman, and not be ashamed of it.

The good life

The holidays are over - well, they've been over for quite a while, but for some reason it feels like I just got mentally caught up. Does that make any sense? Probably not. In any case, even though I announced this on my other blog (and even though most of the people reading this have known for weeks), I have a new job! I am now officially a librarian - how about that? I've been claiming to be a librarian since I got my degree in May, but now I'm getting paid like one. That's very important.

Now that I am a librarian by job title, it is amazing just how many random and obscure questions I get asked on a daily basis. I love it.

So yeah, life is good. :)

To any new readers or commenters: Sorry this blog has been so lame recently. I'll try to remedy that, but I'm not making any promises.

To any old readers: See above.

Hmm. Not much else to say today. I'm looking forward to the weekend, and to a lot of fun things that should happen this year. I'm also really enjoying my new job and all of the challenges I've encountered so far.

What are you excited about this year?

About Who?

I have found that I'm pretty awful when it comes to describing myself. Some people just have a talent for it, and I am not one of those people. For instance, anytime I sign up for a new service and have to fill in an "About Me" section, I usually just groan and put it off. However, there are a few times when I think I've really nailed it.

My last.fm one is my favorite - I was up late and in a weird mood, so I just started listing things. This is what I came up with:

Things I love:

Music (obviously)
B movies
Daisies
Driving with the window down
Bodies of water
Chinese buffets
Road trips
Occasional blogging
Being crafty
Librarian-ing
Rollercoasters
French fries with salt and vinegar
Dancing (badly)
Singing (even worse)
Stickers
My Garfield pillow

I like that. A nice list of my interests, and nothing too deep or personal. I also hate when people ramble, so I kept it to one topic. Another one I like is my facebook one:

I am an uber-geek, a librarian, a procrastinator, and a wanna-be crafter. I love books and libraries and science and computers - and any combination of those things.

Short and to the point - you don't get much better than that. I don't like the one I wrote for Blogger, but since I refuse to write the same thing twice, I won't be changing it anytime soon.

With any luck, you've learned a great deal about me from this post.

Turkeygiving

Today marks my two year anniversary at my library, and I started thinking this morning about how excited I was two years ago when I found out I got the job. I was working at Target at the time, and I was so happy to be out of there before Thanksgiving! The past two years have really flown by - in some ways, I feel like I've been working here forever, but I also feel like I just started. Does that make sense? In any case, I love my job and the people I work with, and I hope that when I move up in the ranks (fingers crossed) I will enjoy my job just as much or perhaps even more.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Going home, visiting family, eating lots of turkey? Jared and I aren't having a very big Thanksgiving celebration, but we are cooking at the new house and I think it's going to be really nice.

PS - WTF Kindle? You were supposed to be so awesome, but you're full of DRM and hidden costs? I thought I knew you.

Lady in waiting

Here's another video about the writer's strike, this time from the writers of the Colbert Report:



I'm very interested to see how long this goes on.

In other news, I had an interview for a job I really, really want today, and I think it went pretty well. Now I just have to wait and see if they thought it went well. Patience is a virtue!

Teachers are people too

Apparently, teachers in Ohio are being encouraged not to join social networking sites or participate in other online communities or dating websites.

Does this make you as angry as it makes me? If it doesn't, maybe it should.

Okay, I get it. We don't want our teachers having inappropriate relationships with students. That shouldn't have to be said. But come on - MySpace and Facebook aren't causing that. Teachers have lives outside of their profession, and they shouldn't have to worry that their online presence will cause them to be accused of being "immoral" or "unprofessional." Instead, teachers should be encouraged to join social networks. Why? Because it's what their students are doing! Teachers need to understand what these services are and why their students are interested in them. In the library world, we are doing everything we can to join these sites and see what makes them so popular. We understand that to make the library more relevant, we need to go where our communities are going - and right now, that's online. And for teachers and librarians who grew up with the Internet, we shouldn't be expected to stop our online activities for our jobs. Furthermore, it's appalling to me that teachers would be discouraged from joining dating websites. Trying to find love on a dating website doesn't equate to doing inappropriate things with students. It just doesn't.

My point is this - we're all people, and we shouldn't have to change who we are or what we do in our free time because of our jobs. Now, if what we're doing is wildly inappropriate, then we should be reprimanded for our actions. But being a teacher doesn't automatically make you a better person than anyone else, and it's certainly not fair to those people who have dedicated their lives to educating our children to be told what they can and can't do outside of work.

It's too bad I'm not getting paid for this

Most of you have already seen this, but in case you haven't, here's a video about the writer's strike from one of the writers of the Daily Show:



What do you think about this? Personally, I think if you write content for a show, you should get paid for that content. If you write content for a website, you should also get paid for that content. However, I'm don't know whether or not they are striking about not getting paid for content they created specifically to be used online or content they created for TV being put online. Does that distinction even matter?

Chipotle philosophy

So I've lapsed a bit in my blogging, but that's okay. I think I knew I wouldn't really post everyday for a whole month - but look at how much I have posted! My goal was to get in the habit of updating this blog more regularly, and I think I'm accomplishing that. Go me.

Highlights of my weekend:

I. Got. To. Meet. John. Glenn. Yes, you read that correctly. John Glenn and his wife were in attendance at the Celebration of Learning (aka, the big library event that I volunteered at Friday evening) and I got to show him to his seat, shake his hand, and introduce myself. I was beside myself with happiness, and I remember saying something about him being an inspiration to me, and that I got my degree in physics, at which point he shook my hand a second time and told me it was a pleasure to meet me. A pleasure! To meet me! Later I saw him again, and he recognized me and the girl I was standing with (we both got to shake his hand and say hello). He also cracked a joke about his wife - they were walking up the stairs, and when we mentioned that they could take the elevator if they wanted, he said, "Oh, she needs the exercise." It was so cute!

Even if I hadn't met John Glenn (but I did! I did! Yay!), the Celebration of Learning would still have been a blast. I got to hear Walter Isaacson speak about his new book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, and I got to hang out with important library people and eat some delicious foods from area restaurants. Although I always feel a bit out of place at fancy events like this, I still managed to have a great time and meet some new people. Like John Glenn. (And yes, I promise that's the last time I'll mention it.)

I also went to a fantastically planned wedding Saturday night (and coming from a wedding critic like me, that means a lot), and my mother came down to visit for a day, so it's been a pretty exciting and busy few days. In the morning, mom and I are going to sell some books at Half Price Books, maybe hit up Panera Bread (yum!), and then probably relax at the house before she has to drive back home.

Random thought - have you even just stepped back, looked at your life and thought, "Wow - how did I get here? I could have never predicted that this is where I would be right now." I did this today in the line at Chipotle. There were some high school kids talking behind me in line, and it hit me that it's been 7 1/2 years since I graduated high school. That's a really long time! After getting over feeling incredibly old, I started thinking about where I thought I would be at this age back then. I think that sometimes you really can predict what you'll be doing in any number of years - but then again, things can change so much in such a short amount of time. When I graduated high school, I knew I was going to Miami, but I didn't have any idea of what major I would be in, let alone the fact that I was going to be there 5 years instead of 4, and that I would go to grad school afterwards for 2 more years. Even when I graduated from Miami, I didn't know the future of my relationship with Jared, and that I would be living with him in just a few short months. And now, here we are, living in a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood in Columbus, and we have no idea where the next few years will take us. It makes me wonder who I'll be in 7 1/2 more years, and what I'll be thinking when I look back at this time in my life.

November mania

Today my mind is preoccupied with everything that's happening in my life right now - I'm waiting to hear about a job, I'm volunteering for a big library event tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to a wedding. It's not that much to worry about, but for some reason I can't clear my head of those things. Plus I feel like I'm losing my weekend, since I'll be at this event until late tonight, busy with the wedding tomorrow, and I have to work on Sunday. I do have Monday off for Veteran's Day though, which will help me to relax a little bit.

I know a lot of people think I'm crazy for this, but I'm really excited to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how it's going to work this year though - usually, I drive up north for Thanksgiving, then I go shopping with mom and Natalie (my cousin). Last year, Nat's daughter Brooke came too, and it was a blast. Daphne even met up with us for part of the day! But this year, mom and grandpa are coming down to my house for Thanksgiving, and I'm not sure that Natalie is going to come. We've also never tried day after Thanksgiving shopping in Columbus, and I'm worried that the craziness of that day might reach levels we've never experienced before. Can mom and I handle it alone? I think we're at least up for the challenge. Does anyone want to join us? ;)

I hate how all the stores are ready for Christmas already - and yet here I am, blogging about how excited I am to start Christmas shopping! Does that make any sense? Perhaps I should just try to get through Thanksgiving first.