put these wings to test

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

libraryman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:39:43 GMT

OK, so my final visit to the 2009 State Fair of Texas this evening got off to an interesting start. Specifically, I got in for free.

Now for the record, I've been to the Fair 4 times before tonight, but I've only had to pay a total of $9 for admission (regular price = $15 per visit). I did this by going on the discount days:

Opening Day: $4 admission with full 20 oz . bottle of a Coca-Cola product donated to the North Texas Food Bank
Thursday: $4 admission with empty 20 oz. bottle of a Coca-Cola product
Saturday: free admission with ticket to "Mary Poppins"
Wednesday: $1 admission with 3+ cans of food donated to the North Texas Food Bank.

Since today was a Thursday, I actually intended to get in for $4 with the empty Coke bottle, and I actually got the $4 voucher after dropping the bottle in the bin. But as we approached the ticket booths to pay our admission fees, a man and woman who were just finishing up at the booth saw us walk up and asked if we'd already paid. When we said we hadn't, they said "Here" and handed us each a companion ticket to their season passes.

So we put away our money and walked in for free! Isn't that amazing?!

So that was 5 visits to the Fair -- a $75 value at the regular price -- for only $9. That comes to less than $2 per visit. What a bargain!

How did they do?

libraryman — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:53:51 GMT

I know the results show aired already, but I haven't seen it yet. And this is the 1st chance I've had to sit down to report my impressions on last night's performances.

I thought there were 2 phenomenal performances: Danny Gokey and Ricky Braddy. They both have great voices, and I would like to hear more from them. Of course, I agree with Simon's comments about Ricky -- specifically that he need to build up his self-confidence some and really believe that he's good.

I really like Alexis Grace. But -- and this is where I really have a problem -- I thought the best female performance came from Tatiana del Toro. Yes, I know. I can't believe it either. But I can't remember anyone ever singing a Whitney song so well. (And many have tried.)

With the voting changes for this season, I guess that's really all I need to comment on. Any 3 of those 4 would likely move forward to the Top 12.

Everyone else was all right -- for the most part. There were 3 stunningly awful performances, though. And that was just positively horrific. (It's the only word that applies.) If you saw the show, then you know who I'm talking about.

OK, I guess I'm now ready to watch the results show. I've still got about another hour or so before that happens.

And so it begins ...

libraryman — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:53:42 GMT

All right, American Idol is on right now, but as usual I'm waiting to watch it -- on tape -- later on. So that means that things are cycling back around again. So it's time for me to start posting about it again. For a while, at least.

And yes, I know it's been on a while, but I've learned not to post anything about the auditions or Hollywood Week shows. Because there's just no point. You never see half of the people who end up in the "semi-final" round in either type of show. And the ones you do see are the most annoying ones.

But before things begin in earnest -- with the postworthy material -- I did want to make a couple of comments on this year's changes.

First, what is up with the Final 36? Why after all this time are they increasing the number of people who make it through to this stage of the game? Is it because there is a higher caliber of performer? Well, there had better be evidence of that.

So the fact that there are 36 people in this stage of the game leads me to my other point: the determination of the Top 12. It seems that they're implementing a strange blending of the original voting process and the process from the last couple of year. Specifically, the 36 have been divided into 3 groups of 12, and each week the 12 perform. In the results shows, the top male, top female, and the person who received the 2nd highest number of votes move on to the Top 12. Then they will bring back the original "wild card" show where the judges will select at least a few of the performers, and then they will do the same thing with the results to round out the 12.

And this baffles me. Because they're restoring exactly the problem that I always had with the original style. Namely, taking only the top people from these performance shows -- who most often didn't deserve to win because others performed better -- because they garnered the most online votes. And we would never see the really good ones again because they were invariably never picked.

I thought that the last couple of years there were actually being fairer (even with the imposed gender split) because they were gradually winnowing out the lowest vote getters each week. So the good people had a better chance to make it into the final round.

My other problem with the way they're doing it this year is that they are still imposing the gender balance -- at least in theory. But my question is ... what happens if (for example) all the boys outperform the girls and get more votes. So you've got the 2 top vote getters who would be male, but then the highest female vote-getter gets puts through even though she might be somewhere in the middle of the pack. Is that fair to everyone who got more votes? All because you want to make sure there is an even gender balance in the Top 12?

(And don't think I've got a gender preference because I don't. The question applies in the reverse -- if the boys are outperformed in toto by the girls.)

So. Having cleared my conscience, I think I can now move forward with the season in full later on this evening.

And the winner is ...

libraryman — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:30:46 GMT

OK, with last night's visit to the movie theater, I have now seen all 5 Best Picture nominees for the 81st Academy Awards. (And to give credit where it's due, I wouldn't have done this if it weren't for my neighbor Deborah, who usually tries to see them all each year before the Oscar show.) So for Best Picture, here are my thoughts (ranked in order of preference).

1. Slumdog Millionaire: This is an absolutely fantastic movie! If you can only see one of these 5, this would be it! The cast are for the most part young and not as experienced as you would find in the other movies (but I love Dev Patel!). However, the story is just outstanding. You are just pulled along with the pace of the movie as you slowly discover how this kid from the slums of Bombay can possibly know answers to some esoteric questions on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Yes, there are scenes of a violent nature, but they aren't frequent and are integral to the story. (Plus, you never really see any blood.) But in the end, the movie does have a happy ending. And be sure to stay through the end credits because I love them, too!

2. Milk: I saw this one even before the nominations came out, and I was sure after seeing it that it should win. (But that was before I saw Slumdog, of course.) The story is pretty straightfoward and you know what's going to happen, but it's the acting that is superb. Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and everyone else acts their hearts out and make you believe they are the characters they're portraying. I highly recommend it also.

3. Frost/Nixon: I actually don't remember anything about the Frost/Nixon interviews. (Actually I don't remember much about Nixon at the time it all went down.) And I wasn't really expecting much about this movie.But I have to admit this was a really good movie. I loved Michael Sheen in The Queen, and he did a really good job here playing David Frost. But the real star of the movie is Frank Langella, who I would never have thought in a million years could have played Richard Nixon. But he did. He really became Nixon.

4. The Reader: OK, so the movie is centered around a heavy topic: the Holocaust. But it's pretty good. I'm not a fan (usually) of Ralph Fiennes, but he is actually quite good in this movie. (Of course, that could be because he was only in part of the movie, not all of it.) Anyway, Kate Winslet is also very good, but David Kross (as the young Finnes) to me really steals the show. But as much as I liked this movie (which I did even though you probably can't tell that from what I've written so far), it was just not up to par with the other 3 movies.

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Which brings me to this movie, which is the one I saw just last night. This is the "crowd pleaser" movie. I liked it, but I'm just not sure why it got nominated. Yes, it's good, and yes, the acting is superb. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett both do a great job, as does Taraji Henson. But the movie is really low-key, it moves slowly (though you don't realize that it's 2.5+ hours long), and it doesn't really grab you. And the story itself is very formulaic. Good, but there are no surprises.

So in summary Slumdog or Milk should win, and I wouldn't be upset if Frost/Nixon took the main prize. The Reader doesn't stand a chance, but Benjamin Button is the question. If it should win, it would be a travesty. But as the "crowd pleaser" movie, it might sneak in there.

LiveJournal Interview Meme

libraryman — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:29:30 GMT

Meme courtesy of coneycat , via salamandersam .
Wanna get interviewed?

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond with five (5) questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to your questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five (5) questions.

1) What was the first long trip you ever took by yourself?

Well, that would have to be the trip to Germany in 1986, about 6 weeks after I graduated from high school. During my senior year of HS, we hosted an exchange student who has since become a member of our extended family (along with his family and a few of his friends). But I digress.

I was invited by his family to come and stay for 3 weeks before getting ready to attend my first year of college. So I flew out for the very first time on my own on an airplane. That was a very strange experience. Of course, I'd flown on a plane before, just never on my own.

I left Dallas at 1:30 p.m., had a 1-hour layover in Atlanta (that actually turned into a 3-hour layover since I sat on the runway for about 1.5 hours), and landed in Munich at 8:30 a.m. And I never slept on the plane. (To this day, I still can't sleep on a plane.) Which is fine. And probably saves my fellow passengers from dealing with my snoring. But I digress again.

Dirk and his parents met me at the airport (after I navigated Customs for the 1st time ever on my own!). And do you know what our very first stop was? The grocery store! Which turned out not to be too bad because I had never -- I repeat, never! -- seen a grocery store like that one. Still haven't, in fact!

When we finally got to their house, I did take a nap for a few hours to start getting caught up on the jet lag. And it was a fun 3 weeks. Saw lots of cool sites. Ate lots of good food. Got lots of exercise. Saw my 1st nude "beach" (Most definitely not planned on the itinerary! I'll share the store separately, if you're interested).

Overall, I saw many parts of Germany and visited the wonderful city of Salzburg, Austria (site of The Sound of Music). And on the flight home had a brief layover in Shannon, Ireland (at the airport only).

2) If you could magically play any musical instrument, what would you choose?

Hmmm. Well, in band (grades 6-12) I played the trombone, but I haven't touched it since. And I've dabbled at playing the piano a little (took lessons before grade 6). I suppose I would love to be able to play the piano more expertly (be able to just rattle something off after hearing it played once).

But if we're talking about an instrument I've never played before, well, let's think about that for a moment. Definitely not the violin. I have more than enough pains in my neck as it is. Not the guitar, either. I don't like the idea of the callouses at all.

Hmmm.

I guess I would have to say the flute. I love the sound it makes -- so ethereal and evocative. And it doesn't need reeds (that the other wind instruments use and that have to be changed frequently when they get blunted and/or icky), and it doesn't result in the various levels of lip numbness that one is likely to get with the brass instruments (whether you're pinching lips tightly for the small mouthpieces of the cornet, trumpet, or french horn or the larger mouthpieces of the trombone or tuba).

3) What is your favourite book, and why?

Oy vey! You would have to ask this question, wouldn't you?!

Well, there are just so many to choose from! And from so many different genres! How to pick (since it's so hard to compare books across genres)?

For mysteries, I would go with either Artists in Crime (when Alleyn meets Troy) or A Caribbean Mystery (my absolute favorite Miss Marple). Science fiction offers up The Many Colored Land (the 1st book in the Saga of the Pliocene Exile series by Julian May), Rendezvous with Rama (a classic from Arthur C. Clarke), or Dragonflight (or any book -- Pern or otherwise -- by Anne McCaffrey).

In fantasy fiction, we've got River of the Dancing Gods (by Jack Chalker), The Dracula Tape (by Fred Saberhagen), or any book written (so far) by Jasper Fforde.

What genre haven't I covered yet? Oh, yeah! Historical fiction. That would be Blood Games or The Palace, both by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and featuring the wonderful Count Saint-Germain.

But I suppose if you want me to narrow it down to one book -- and one book only -- I would have to go with the only book to date that has ever made me cry at the end. I've only read it a couple of times, and I cried both times. So I'm not too keen to go back and read it often. But it did manage to evoke feelings and emotions that no other book has ever quite been able to do.

What is it, you ask? Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden.

4) What is the strangest encounter you have ever had at the reference desk?

Now, I certainly cannot claim to have had anything nearly as strange as some of those items that Miss Information experiences. After all, I work in an academic medical library, not the public library where you get the really out-of-left-field questions. And granted I haven't really spent much time at the desk since moving to collection development 3+ years ago.

But I guess I've had some strange ones over the years. But the strangest?

Well, let's see. There was that woman who kept calling a number of years ago, asking you to look up the credentials of various doctors that she was ostensibly being referred to ...

Woman: Yes, I want to find out some information about Dr. So-And-So.
Libraryman: OK, just a moment. (Looks in the ABMS Directory.) Ma'am, I'm sorry I didn't find him. How did you spell his name again?
Woman: It's Dr. S-O-A-N-D-S-O.
Libraryman: That's what I thought. I'm sorry. I didn't find him in my first source. Let me check the other one. (Looks). No, ma'am, I'm not finding him.
Woman: Oh. OK. Can you tell me where he went to school?
Libraryman: Ma'am, I'm sorry. He's not listed in these directories so I can't tell you that.
Woman: All right. What about any board certifications?
Libraryman: No, ma'am. I'm sorry.
Woman: OK, well, thanks for trying.
Libraryman: No problem. Talk to you tomorrow.

Of course, that conversation didn't really take place. It's just an amalgam of the -- like -- 50+ phone calls I took from her over the years. And I'm sure coneycatremembers the woman fondly as well since I think everyone who worked the reference desk took a phone call or two from her. But you get the idea.

But if you want something even weirder -- though not technically a reference desk encounter -- I'd have to go back to the 3 years I spent working in my hometown library before heading off to library school. A patron brought in a special cake that she'd made for the library staff from one of the old Gourmet magazines she always checked out of the library. (This was 1992-1994, and the magazines were all at least 10 years old. And she was always checking them out over and over again, at least 4 each time.)

What was it? A gardenia pound cake.

Yes, you read that right. Gardenia.

What did it taste like? Well, let's see ... was it ... um? ... GARDENIA?! Never, in all of my life then or since, have I ever understood more strongly the connection between taste and smell. One bite. That's all it took. One bite. And you were overwhelmed with the ... AROMA ... of gardenias.

But the aroma was not originating from your nose. No, that would be too easy. It was originating instead from inside your mouth.

In a word? WEIRD!

But memorable! (Yeah, that's for darn sure! Etched in indelible ink!)

5) Have you ever kept a New Year's resolution, and was it worth it?

Gee, I wonder why this question popped up? Could it have something to do with yesterday?

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Because you're ending with an easy one. If that was your intention, then "Thanks!" But if you wanted to end with a doozy, you should have put #3 last.

Answer: Nope, never! I would make them, then promptly forget them. If I wrote them down, I would lose the piece of paper and always manage to find it around Christmastime. If I did -- somehow -- manage to remember the resolution, I would procrastinate like crazy. ("Oh, I don't feel like that today. Maybe next week.")

So at some point I kind of gave up making them altogether. It's so much easier living in the moment, you know. Not worrying about the future.

Hmmm. Maybe that's why I just hate having to answer those darn questions like, "Where would you like to be in 5 years?" Go figure!

Book Read Meme

libraryman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:41:46 GMT

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well, let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read. (I have not yet done so. I'm not sure there are more than one or two on the list I still plan to read anyway.)
3) Reprint this list in your own LJ.

Following the example set by coneycat , I've put the specific answers behind the cut. Not that I couldn't have posted the whole thing to the journal anyway since I've got so few readers, but still ...

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (which is, of course, one of the Chronicles Of Narnia)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Thank God for short work weeks!

libraryman — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:18:17 GMT

OK, last week was different. A Star Is Born (1937) on Wednesday night was really good, and it still showed a peak into movie studio life as it exists today. Although, of course, you don't have the studio bosses controlling so much of the performers' lives anymore. But still the fan craziness applies.

Tell you what was weird, though. Seeing Lionel Stander in the movie, looking so dang young! Remember him? Max from Hart To Hart? Sheesh! That was a shocker!!

Friday night was Death on the Nile (1978), with Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, David Niven, Bette Davis, and whole cast of others! AND IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! I don't think I ever saw it on the big screen before, and it was great!! Granted, this screen was not as big as a regulation movie theater screen, but it was still big. And grand. Just grand!

Of course, I sat through the movie, seeing all the sites, and I kept thinking, "Yeah, my mom's been there ... and there ... and there." That wasn't so much fun.

And then Saturday was the day trip to Austin with my neighbor Deborah. We left around 9 a.m. and got to Austin around 12 noon. Had lunch at Katz's Deli & Bar (fried pickles, Reuben sandwich, fresh-cut french fries, cole slaw -- mmm mmm good!), went to The University of Texas at Austin campus to see the Blanton Museum (I'm not a huge fan of contemporary art, but they've got a really good collection!) and the Tower Tour (nice view, even it was cloudy and foggy).

Then we had dinner at Brick Oven (one of my old college haunts) and went to see my niece in her play (here's a review). It was fantastic. The play was staged in Austin once before (2005, I think), and my niece was in it then. The writer-director was in her class at UT, and it was good before. But this time around it was PHENOMENAL! Clearly there's been some work put into polishing it up, and it has just blossomed as a result.

The play tells the story of Ophelia (from Shakespeare's Hamlet), who -- let's face it -- got short-shrift in the play. As much as you hear about the great love that was O&H, you just never see Ophelia much in the play at all. So this play tells her story from her perspective. The writer-director has broken up Ophelia into 5 different faces (each played by a different actress): in love, impassioned, on edge, undone, and in water.

My niece played "Ophelia impassioned" and got to romp around on stage with Hamlet (played by the delicious Gabriel Luna) in hilarious, sexually-suggestive situations. And of course, she got to make out with him on-stage. (I didn't mind so much -- since he was such wonderful eye-candy -- but bear in mind that her father, mother, grandmother, and boyfriend/fiance [BFF] were all also in attendance.)

After the play -- and after congratulating everyone for a job well-done, including Mr. Luna -- Deborah & I headed to Kerbey Lane Cafe for some dessert and final fortification (i.e., coffee for Deborah) before heading home. (The Italian Creme Cake was divine!)

All told, we were in Austin for about 11 hours. We got back to Dallas a little after 2 a.m. We told ourselves we did this to prove we were still young. And we did.

...

It certainly makes up for putting in an order for new glasses on Friday, with my very first bifocals. Yikes! More about that later.

This week's activities ...

libraryman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:27:35 GMT

Tonight I'll be heading out to see A Star Is Born (the 1937 version, I think). It's one of those free movies being shown at the Magnolia Theater for their TCM Movie Nights.

On Friday, though, the Dallas Museum of Art is holding its Late Night event. The current Tutankhamun exhibit is there now, and one of the features for Friday night is a showing of ... drum roll please ... Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov. I've come so close to buying it over the last couple of months (not yet, coneycat !), but obviously I can't resist going to see it on a large-ish screen. [The screen at the DMA isn't as large as a regulation movie theater screen, but it's still larger than any screen I've seen the movie on ever.]

And rounding out the week's events, I'll be going to Austin on Saturday to watch my niece in her play, Ophelia, before she heads off to Angola in January.

I'll be doing all of these events with my neighbor, Deborah. I've been here in Oak Cliff for 6 months now, and she and I have become really good friends. And constant event buddies. It's a good thing we get along.

Best laid plans ...

libraryman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:14:22 GMT

OK, I seriously meant to write up something each day of the chapter meeting in October, but I was just so darn tired when I got home each night that I just couldn't work up much energy. So mea culpa!

Quick updates on what happened:

My brother's talk went off without a hitch, and he yet again was impressed by giving a presentation to medical librarians.
The big dinner banquet at the meeting was fantastic! Never had so much good food, and such a nice venue (Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field, among all the planes and other displays).
I was surprised by being awarded the SCC/MLA Librarian of the Year Award for 2008. I feel truly honored, not just for being recognized like this (by a nomination) but also to be the 3rd recipient after Ethel Madden (New Orleans) and Ana Cleveland (University of North Texas, Denton).
The meeting concluded with no major problems, and everyone loved it. Especially the dinner banquet.

First day over ...

libraryman — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:44:32 GMT

And I'm sitting at home. Been here since 9 p.m. It was the only early night of the meeting, which goes until Wednesday afternoon. The events tonight ended at 7 p.m., officially. Then I went out to dinner afterwards to a wonderful Indian restaurant (Roti Grill) just a few blocks from the meeting hotel.

The next couple of nights have events that are scheduled to 10 p.m. so they'll both late nights. Tuesday night the official events end at 7:30, and I'll be hosting a dine-around to a nearby restaurant (Cuba Libre).

So far I'm surviving. Today wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it would be, but then again we haven't hit the full stride of the meeting yet. The peak will likely be Monday (when I'm doing a presentation on the meeting registration software we used for this meeting), but I expect most people will register tomorrow. So the desk is likely to be really, really busy. We'll see.

I need to go to bed soon. Since I've gotta be back at the hotel tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

So the pain has begun ...

libraryman — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:21:36 GMT

Well, here I am sitting at the registration desk for the meeting. On this the first official day. Granted, today is just continuing education, but we've already had a good number of people sign up. And someone did an on-site registration. Nice!

Yesterday was just the setup. And I practiced getting up early all this week so it wouldn't be huge shock to the system to be here at 7 a.m. this morning. (I was actually here at 6:30.) But I was exhausted when I got home last night, and was in bed by midnight. Which is just not like me.

Of course, the rest of this meeting is going to kill me. We'll see how that goes.

But the online registration system that we used for the meeting kicks ass! It ROCKS! I love it. I don't know what we would do without it.

Napoleon & Dragons

libraryman — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:39:25 GMT

OK, I've continued to read more of the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Remember, I mentioned the first book some time ago. But I've since read 3 of the subsquent books in the series: Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, and Empire of Ivory. (There's a 5th book out in hardcover right now, but I'm not about to spend the money on that until it's in paperback.)

The 2nd book was set quite a bit in China, and it was actually very good. Not as good as the first book, but still pretty darn good.

The 3rd book was a little harder to get into since it dealt a lot more with wartime maneuvers, but it did have its moments. After all, how would you imagine Napoleon's advances would have gone if he'd been able to move troops and equipment using 100+ dragons?

The last book was more reminiscent of the 2nd, since it is set almost completely in Africa. With some interesting twists.

They're worth a try.

Post-birthday blues ... or is it "blahs"?

libraryman — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:03:29 GMT

So yesterday I turned 40. Yes, the big 4-0. And I think I survived it well.

Of course, going to see Wizard of Oz twice certainly helped, with fine dining both nights (Friday & Saturday). But what I haven't written about yet is the rest of the weekend.

On Sunday I went to see the current remake of The Women with Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Overall, I liked it. Granted, it's nothing like the 1939 version with Norma Shearer, but then again I don't think they could make a movie exactly like that one in this day and age. Diane English managed to update the movie while at the same preserving the essential aspects. Annette Benning was the best of the top name cast, but Candice Bergen and Cloris Leachman both manage to steal every scene they're in.

When Deborah and I were at the movie theater Friday night for the 1st Oz showing, we picked up the brochure highlighting what the theater is showing for the week. And both of us literally gasped when we saw the planned specials for Monday and Tuesday nights.

On Monday I left work early to go see Moulin Rouge on the big screen, which was being shown in the Lounge (Living Room) at the Inwood Theater. Each month the Dallas Opera presents a movie that relates in some way to opera, and this month they showed this movie. Since I had never seen it on the big screen, I just had to go, especially since it was free. So it was fantastic seeing Ewan (hot!) sing his little heart out. And Nicole, too.

But the kicker was on Tuesday, when the Magnolia Theater was going to be showing The King and I with Yul Brynner. The Magnolia has made a deal with Turner Classic Movies (the cable network) to show one of their week's offerings on the big screen. For free! I just love that movie, and I had never seen it presented that way. It was wonderful.

So all in all, it was a more than successful birthday weekend. And the fact that I am sitting at home alone tonight is where the "blahs" come in. After 5 fun-filled nights, what else can you expect.

Oh, well! At least I don't have to ever worry about turning 40 again.

"If I were King, not Queen ..." -- Please! That ship has sailed!

libraryman — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:43:31 GMT

OK, just got back home tonight after seeing The Wizard of Oz sing-along again at the midnight movie. Yes, I know it sounds like I'm a fanatic, but I'm not.

I went out with my neighbor Deborah and her sister, Elizabeth, who is a nurse at Parkland ER for dinner this evening. We went to La Duni Latin Kitchen, which I've heard about for a long time. And it was definitely worth it. Food? Fantasic! Dessert? Heavenly! (They offer a cake platter, which includes 4 slices of your choosing from their selection of homemade cakes. WOW!)

During dinner, we were telling Elizabeth about the Oz adventure last night, and she mentioned that she should just go. Her husband had offered to watch their son for the evening, and he'd told her that she could be out as late as she wanted as long as she was back before he had to go to work. So Deborah and I said we were willing to go back.

And you know? I think the crowd was definitely better tonight. More lively! More involved! And we weren't the only repeat visitors, either.

Go figure.

"The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea"

libraryman — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:37:30 GMT

Those are the opening words of a wonderful new book my mother told me about. It's actually the first book in a trilogy, and my mom gave me all 3 books.

But this one is His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. It's an historical novel set during the Napoleonic Wars, which has never been one of my favorite eras, so normally this wouldn't be my cup o' tea at all. And it is also set in an alternate history -- another genre that I've never been able to get into -- where dragons are part of normal, everyday life, serving the role of aerial support in battle.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself absolutely enamored and hooked by the story. A captain of the British Navy captures a small French frigate on the high seas and finds a dragon egg aboard that is close to hatching. When the dragon hatches, the captain is forced to abandon his life in the Navy to become part of the Aerial Corps and defend England from attack & invasion by Napoleon's naval fleet and dragon corps.

I highly recommend the book, if you get a chance to read it. You may not be a fan of either alternate history or dragons, but it is worth a try. I know one of my regular readers -- and I have a very limited of number of them -- won't follow my advice about some particular vampire historical novels, but perhaps this book would have a better appeal for her. Since it deals somewhat with the high seas and ships.

(And btw, coneycat , Helen also agrees that you should give those historical novels a try -- you know, the ones I alluded to in the last paragraph but that I promised I wouldn't specifically push on you again.)

"I'm addicted to stress that's the way that I get things done"

libraryman — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:45:32 GMT

Well, not really, but ...

OK, so in my previous post I indicated that I had a really stressful day yesterday. Why? Well, it all relates to this blasted meeting that we hosting next month. Well, in 28 days. Yes, the annual meeting of the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association.

Dallas is for fortunate host for this year's meeting. And we have all been working like of SOAB trying to get it done.

My responsibility? I'm managing the registrations for the meeting, which is loads of fun since we're trying out a new, online meeting registration system (RegOnline). Now, don't get me wrong; I'm happy to be using it. From listening to my predecessors in this role, they had to do so much work to configure and work with the in-house system that's been passed on from year to year since the early 90s, so I'm grateful that the online system works so much better.

But it's just gotten so busy this past week that I felt like I wasn't able to do any of my actual work for the library.

Granted, the early bird deadline (with the cheaper pricing) was yesterday. So that explains why I was just so swamped with questions and fires yesterday. People were trying to get in on the cheap prices. But still it just seemed like I would finish answering one email or finishing up with one phone call when another one would come right on it.

Anyway, things should be a little easier now. Except for getting the supplies, printing out the materials, collating the registration packets, setting up the registration, etc.

Oy vay!

Fun at Midnight

libraryman — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:50:31 GMT

OK, so last night I was in desperately in need of relaxation and fun. Why? Well, I'll get to that in another post shortly, but suffice to say that calling the day "stressful" wouldn't be a strong enough word.

So I went out last night with my neighbor Deborah for dinner & a midnight movie. Dinner was at a wonderful restaurant in my neighborhood -- Kavala Mediterranean Grill. This was my 4th visit to this particular restaurant since moving to Bishop Arts/Oak Cliff in May, and the place has never disappointed me.

Rather than do dessert at Kavala, Deborah and I opted to head out to another place for dessert, which is located close to the movie theater. Kathleen's Sky Diner -- which used to be known for years as Kathleen's Art Cafe -- offers sinfully gi-normous desserts. The recent remodel and rename is a little hokey (their open sign reads "Now Boarding"), but the desserts are still as wonderful as ever.

Then we went to see the midnight movie at the Inwood Theater. A sing-along version of The Wizard of Oz! Yes, I said "sing-along". And I did sing. I was surprised, though, how many straight (and very attractive!) men there were waiting for the movie. Granted, they appeared to be there with dates, but it was still a larger number than I would have expected.

And there were the obligatory people in costume: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. But no Wicked Witch or Flying Monkey, thank God!

So all in all, it was a wonderful evening. Fabulous! Relaxing! Just what I needed.

The weekend was a success!

libraryman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:08:24 GMT

So Mom is on her way to her next stop -- staying with my oldest brother near Austin. We got up this morning and had some breakfast, then she got on the road. She said she had a good time, even though we couldn't get to the wedding last night. And she said she was looking forward to coming back for another visit and visiting more of these wonderful restaurants around here.

By the way, last night we watched 27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl (love her!!) and James Marsden (what a hottie!!) It was a lot of fun. The premise is a little out there, but everyone did a really good job.

Antiques & mysteries ...

libraryman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:14:11 GMT

So my mother gave me a book a while back, and I just finished it today. Death Is A Cabaret: An Antique Lover's Mystery by Deborah Morgan.

It was ... interesting. The main character is Jeff Talbot, a former FBI agent who now works as an antique picker. He gets caught up in a murder at at an antiques festival on Mackinac Island, Michigan.

The story was all right. I had a little trouble with the pacing (an entire 5-course dinner began and ended in 5 paragraphs in one part of the book, while the four hours after the discovery of the body seemed to take around 40+ pages). Also, certain "conversations" in the book are missing key parts; for example, Jeff meets 3 elderly Southern ladies who formally introduce themselves to him but he never seems to introduce himself.

But all in all, it was a good story, with interesting characters. I might read another, if I come across it.

Measure twice, cut once ...

libraryman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:44:08 GMT

OK, today's adventures weren't nearly as involved, but they were certainly more interesting. Mom & I got up late this morning and went out for brunch at the Cliff Cafe. Awesome!

Then we came back home and just spent the day relaxing until it was time to get ready for the wedding. Mom had provided me the address for the church earlier in the week, and I'd printed out the directions from MapQuest. When we headed out, things looked really promising.

Until we couldn't find the church.

We drove around a little more, trying to identify the street numbers. But still no luck.

By the time the ceremony was supposed to start, we decided to give it up. So since we were dressed up, we went to a fancy restaurant for an early seafood dinner: McCormick & Schmick's.

After dinner, we came back home, and I checked the Web site to see where things went wrong. And they didn't. Well, MapQuest said to turn one way, which turned out to be the wrong way. Sure enough, Google and Yahoo maps both say that we should have kept on going straight where MapQuest said to take a left.

So the moral of the story is ... make sure at least 2 of the directions Web sites agree before embarking on a trip somewhere. Don't just rely on one alone.

And I've got functioning watches again!!

libraryman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:47:49 GMT

While my mother was getting her hair done today, I ventured out to get some watch batteries replaced. A couple of weeks ago my main-staple watch's battery gave up the ghost, and I've been really lost ever since. So I needed to get that taken care of, and I decided I should also get some others replaced while I was at it.

It is so nice to have a decent selection of watches to choose from again!

After I was done with that, I walked around the outdoor shopping center for a while. I partook of some high-end cupcakes from Sprinkles Beverly Hills. Fortunately, they were out of Red Velvet. (I would seriously maim someone to get the last one of those.) So I opted for Lemon Coconut. Delicious!

When Mom was done getting her hair done, we headed out to NorthPark to kill some time while we waited to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The movie was good; escapist fun, with cute little Shia LeBeouf (although he's not so little anymore). Granted, you have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit, but it was still fun.

Afterwards, we drove back home and had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant that's just a few blocks away. Wonderful!

Tomorrow evening we have a wedding to go to, but the daytime adventures are still up in the air.

Having a guest is nice ...

libraryman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:11:41 GMT

OK, so for the first time ever, my mom is visiting me this weekend. Now, you might wonder why now? Well, until 2 months ago, I didn't exactly live anywhere that was really convenient for visiting. Well, that and the fact that I have tended to be a bit of slob so my abode was never exactly in a presentable state.

But since moving to the new place -- 2 months ago -- I've managed to keep it much cleaner and I'm a lot closer to things. And I wanted my mom to see the new place, too. So she's here.

The weekend was originally supposed to start today since she had to come up to Dallas to get her hair done. But she got an invitation to a special 5-course dinner and wine-tasting at a high-end restaurant we've been to previously. So she came up last night for that dinner. And it was wonderful.

The courses were:

Lightly grilled warm lobster "salad", green apple cru, lemon marmalade, tropical fruits & extra virgin olive oil (served with LeNude "Unoaked" Chardonnay)
Pan roasted sweetbreads, cranberry glaze, Morel-Honshimeji ragout, Porcini scented pangratto (served with Charbono)
Slow roasted & lightly grilled duck breast & quail, De Puy lentil agnolotti, red wine caramel with laurel & white peppercorns (served with Zinfandel)
Seared venison loin, ricotta gniocchi, red fruit-juniper compote (served with Petite Sirah)
Creme brulee cotta cubes with fresh vanilla bean, mandarin sorbet, burnt sugar-ginger toffee (served with Muscat Canelli)

OK, I know the sweetbreads sound a little much, but they were awesome. I've only had them once before, and they were good that time. Of course, I didn't know what they were when I ate them (I found out 2 weeks later). But I've always wanted to try them again.

But the best course was the duck/quail course.

Anyway, it was a great night.

Alleyn and Others ...

libraryman — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:55:44 GMT

OK, a while back I unearthed a book that I've had on my "to-read" shelf for years.

My mother was systematically reading the Roderick Alleyn mysteries by Ngaio Marsh -- a fave author of a good friend's (right, coneycat?) -- in chronological order. For the most part she'd been getting audiobook versions from Amazon, but there were a number of titles that she wasn't able to find in that format. And she knew I had the complete set of 32 novels (which I'd worked for years and years to collect -- all before my 18th birthday!).

So while locating the titles she needed, I came across a book I'd purchased (I think) in the early 1990s. The Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh by Ngaio Marsh (edited by Douglas Greene). I had never read it, but I let my mom read it over Christmas. And since a lot of my unread books were still packed up as of last Friday, I pulled it out to read.

Having just finished it today, I must say that it is truly interesting. It includes a couple of essays (character studies) Dame Marsh wrote about Roderick Alleyn and his wife Troy. Also, there are several short stories with Alleyn as well as a few other mystery stories.

So, coneycat, have you ever read this book? If not, you might try tracking down a copy of it.

Get ready for a belly laugh!

libraryman — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:47:25 GMT

OK, this item was posted on one of my fave blogs last Friday, but I only got around to reading it today. And I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Please to enjoy!

Miss Information is annoyed by TV guy

I think I've experienced some people like that. Although not nearly as persistent.

Tempation is bad. Very bad!!

libraryman — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:04:55 GMT

All right, I am now living out of the new apartment -- even though I've still got stuff at the old place. But I've got until the end of the month to get it cleared out and cleaned up.

Just so you know, I am LOVING the new place! LOVING IT!!! Of course, I've got boxes that desperately need unpacking (12+ file boxes filled with books, plus all sorts of the other things). The good thing is that I've now got some good, sturdy bookcases on which I should be able to get most of the books out of boxes -- something I was never able to do in the 9 years I lived in the old place.

And I've already run one load of clothes in the lovely washer/dryer, and that was fantastic, let me tell you! And I discovered another boon to having those machines in the apartment. The other day during my failed attempt at public transportation, I got soaking wet from the knees down. (Umbrellas are great, but obviously there's a slight limitation to their effectiveness in a downpour.) So I stripped off the clothes and tossed them in the dryer. Problem solved!

So are there any other good things about the new place? Well, yes. And no.

Here's the thing -- I've been living in the new place for not quite a week now. And I've already eaten at 3 of the "restaurant-type places" that are within a 2-block radius (i.e., walking distance!!!). I've been to the original Gloria's (where I've eaten previously, but only at their Lemmon Avenue location), Vitto Italian, and Chan Thai. OMG, it's all so wonderful!!!!

And that's only a sampling of what's available!

So. How do you think my diet will survive?