I did a well-meaning oops today

I've been wanting to join the American Library Association again for awhile now, and at my level of income, it's only $46 a year. Today I got paid and decided to go for it, even though it wasn't a pressing matter. I filled out my form, brought out my debit card, and whoopee, I'm now a member again for the first time since 1998. (My workplace pays my Medical Library Association and Kentucky Medical Library Association dues, as they are directly related to my work there, and in the latter case ensures reciprocating interlibrary loans.) But I'm on my own for the ALA and the Kentucky Library Association, which is the next one I want to rejoin.

Only one trouble--afterwards, as I looked at the calendar, I realised that my next paydays are the 18th and 19th. Before that happens, my phone bills (Vonage and cell phone) will apply to my account as pending (the cell phone won't go through until at least the 19th, but it 'gobbles' up the money from available funds as early as the 16th, even though the due date is the 23rd.) Now there is a way to get around this. I have enough time to end the EasyPay automatic debit programme with T-Mobile and just pay by the 23rd of each month (the real due date), which I was thinking of doing anyway, since it caused some problems for me when I first discovered they could access the money that early back in August. But it's a little more expensive ($4.99/month). On the other hand, they can't grab money a full six days before it's actually due, and if I don't, my oops will leave me with about $12 to spend this coming week and among other things, I need a $30 bus pass by Friday. You see the problem, yes?

So, rather than risking a bounce, I'm going to go over to T-Mobile and see if I can change from EasyPay to normal. Wish me luck. I really must look at the calendar though before making unusual expenses. :) I should have waited until after the 19th to join ALA, because I'd have two paydays in a week and would have extra money to spend.

PS Funny how it's easier to come up with solutions when you write things out. So anyway, I went to the website and couldn't get EasyPay discontinued, but then called customer service and spoke to a computer and managed to delete EasyPay from my account. It updated immediately on the website, which now expects me to make a payment manually by the 23rd. Yay! Now we'll just see if it plays out as it should, or if they try to take the money out anyway. Am I a little distrusting of Big Business? Maybe a little.... :)

An irreverent look

at the history behind Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night (November 5th; I'm a little behind):

Hilarious

YKWIA showed me this over the weekend. It's from the Catherine Tate show on the BBC:

Thanks!

Interesting initiative

I don't drink wine (although I do use it in libations), but Fledgling Wine has a very interesting philanthropic idea to selling wine:

The Fledgling Initiative aims to make awesome wine for the benefit of Room to Read, a non-profit organization extending literacy and educational opportunities to children worldwide. Every case sold will provide approximately 60 local language children’s books and promote education in the world’s poorest regions.

You can follow them on Twitter at @Fledgling.

Another way to support Kentucky libraries

The Kentucky Library Association is working to bring a new library license plate to Kentucky. In order for the Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing to produce the plates they must receive 900 applications. So far over 500 library lovers across Kentucky have made the pledge to purchase at least one plate. Those who committed will be asked at a later date to complete an application and pay a $25 application fee. Once the plates are available, each person will need to request the plate when renewing vehicle tags at the local county clerk's office.

A portion of each registered plate will be used to support Kentucky’s libraries.

If you want to show your support for Kentucky libraries by pledging to purchase one or more plates please contact Linda Kompanik at linda[at]loganlibrary.org.

This is something I definitely want to do if I get a car again soon.

Books! Books! Books!

From the Lexington Public Library:

Friends Book Sale has 115,000 books

The annual Friends Book Sale will take place from Saturday, Nov. 14, through Sunday, Nov. 22, at the old Dawahares store in Gardenside Shopping Center on Alexandria Drive.

This year’s sale includes 115,000 books with a sale price as low as a quarter per book.

The sale begins Saturday for Friends of the Library members only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friends memberships are available at the door.

The sale continues from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, through Friday, Nov. 20.

Two-for-One Day will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, and the sale will end with Bag Day from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22 ($2 buys a bag and all the books that fit in it).

Hardbacks are priced at $1 for adult books and 50 cents for children’s. Paperbacks are priced at 25 cents. Other items--including compact discs, videos and magazines--are individually priced.

Last year, the Friends of the Library grossed $266,250 from the sale of used books at its book sale and at the Book Cellar, their used book store open six days a week plus each first Sunday of the month in the Central Library’s lower level. The Friends are the primary sponsor of the library’s Summer Reading Program and provide funds for a number of library events and special projects.

For more information, call the Friends Book Cellar at (859) 231-5505.

I doubt I'll be able to go; the game is Sunday and I'm not a member, although I could join and go on Saturday. It's only $10 for an individual membership and for those interested, $20 for a household. For $200 you can be a Friends member for life. :) I can get out to Alexandria Drive on the bus. It will depend on my work schedule, I guess.

Yipee!

Also, in the current season, they're teaching kids to love the Earth. (See: Sesame Street Goes Green at 40--But Warming "Too Scary") from National Geographic.

And just for nostalgia, I give you the 1-2-3 red ball sequence from when I was little:

How do you define 'Jew'?

Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question

The basic test in Judaism for who is Jewish isn't what you believe, or what you practice--it's whether your mother is Jewish. This is a long-standing practice, but the different denominations of Judaism (yes, there are, for those who didn't know) approach the question differently. So then you get into the question of 'how Jewish is the mother?' At the heart of this matter is can an Orthodox school exclude a child because the mother, who is a convert to Judaism, converted in a more liberal synagogue than the school recognises, a matter that in the United States, would probably fall into the area of a private decision by a religious school, but in Britain becomes an issue because it, like many other religious schools, receive public funding. The parents who sued lost the first round, but an appellate court ruled that the child was not being excluded on religious grounds (as in practice) but rather on ethnic grounds (his mother's non-Jewish ethnicity). It will no doubt go up the chain.

It's an interesting question. Religions are entitled to their beliefs, but throw the public funding issue in and it becomes more complicated.

But here's the thing--unlike Christianity, Judaism isn't based on belief, but rather observation of laws, as well as ethnic identity. So you can't define an admissions policy based on beliefs, and ethnicity is out in this case. So it would have to be practice. There are lots of Jews, however, who would argue that eating a ham sandwich doesn't make you less Jewish. And as the article states, you have to be creative about figuring out which children went to synagogue given that Orthodox and Conservative Jews don't write on the Sabbath. So the whole thing opens a can of worms involving the British government, the school, and the various denominations and its leaders all trying to find some correct meaning for the word 'Jew'. It's making people question the very meaning of Jewishness, and who has the right to determine it. As a liberal rabbi put it, 'The Orthodox definition of Jewish excludes 40 percent of the Jewish community in this country.' Who has the right to exclude? How inclusive can you be without making the label meaningless?

I will say one thing; part of the point of education is to get people to think about these sorts of issues, so in a way the school is fulfilling its mission--but not like it expected to.

PS

Today's Google logo Muppet was Oscar the Grouch. :) It's my favourite so far; I love Oscar (we're both packrats, for one).

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In today's era

I found out about the House passage of the health care bill not from traditional news sources--but from Twitter, specifically:

'So, now we have health care like most of the free world...maybe AT&T will release the IPHONE and we can choose our carrier.'--David N. Wilson

and

'RT @repblumenauer House did its job, now the ball is in the Senate's court. Don't let America down and let's get this done!'--Barack Obama

Only then did I go to Google News and see:

House passes health care reform bill; Vote garners only one Republican

Parsing the House Health Bill

and this video from the White House on YouTube:

Yummy!

I decided to splurge and get a real meal tonight on my way home. I called in an order to Texas Roadhouse [which oddly enough, got its start in Indiana, according to the menu we have at work, but there's one next door to the gas station where I work] and then walked up to Kroger to get a few things, coming back just as the order came up. I'd hate to be the person who sweeps up the peanut hulls at night--he looked a little shell-shocked, no pun intended. I went ahead and walked home and proceeded to have grilled salmon with lemon butter, a baked potato with butter, cheese, and a little sour cream, rolls with cinnamon butter (yes, there's a lot of butter in their meals), and a house salad with French dressing. I love their croutons. The fish was tender, the baked potato lovely, and everything was very filling. I feel pleasantly full and a little like drowsing. It's the first real meal I've had at home in awhile. I've mostly just had snacks. But I got some garden burgers, cheese, bagels, and cream cheese to help with that for a few days.

Okay, I have achieved culinary bliss. Now I must do a few things before bed. I have to get up early to catch the bus so I can prepare for the game tomorrow. Good night.

It always seems more real when you put names to faces and to stories

Fort Hood victims: Sons, a daughter, mother-to-be

Several people were apparently getting or helping with physicals and vaccinations for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. One woman was three-months pregnant and had been transferred to Ft Hood just last week because of it. They each represent ordinary Americans who felt a duty to serve their country. Some made a career out of it, some had and remained in the Reserve; others were trying to get money for school. Each had a dream; several had children. Each potential future was shattered by a gunman, one of their own, and that is the most devastating rub of all. Soldiers are prepared to give their lives when fighting an enemy. They know they may even be part of 'collateral damage' in friendly fire. But when an officer and army physician/psychiatrist turns his guns on his comrades, that's another thing entirely.

Having grown up in the military, I understand the shock this must leave. My thoughts are with the dead, with the wounded, their families and friends, and for a community that has undergone a terrible blow.

Pagan candidate wins race in New York

Halloran beats Kim in council race

The Republican candidate for the District 19 City Council won with a lot less money and endorsements primarily because his Democrat opponent slung a lot of mud, and there was a voter backlash. One of the things the opponent attacked was Dan Halloran's Paganism. Halloran apparently is a reconstructionist Pagan, a part of Théodism, which is related to Ásatrú, rather than a Neo-Pagan or Wiccan, which I find a little refreshing, as I identify with reconstructionists myself. I found out about Halloran's victory on the Hellenion list, which is run by the Greek Pagan religious group of that name.

Quote of the day

'The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and re-learn.' – Alvin Toffler

:)

On November 10th it will be the 40th anniversary of the premiere of 'Sesame Street'. The show debuted when I was two. By the time I was three I was reading, in part due to Jim Henson's Muppets. Google celebrated yesterday with a logo with the 'l's being Big Bird's legs. Today they have Burt and Earnie on the logo. I can hear the strains of 'Rubber Duckie' in my head. Want to bet that Kermit will be featured on November 10th itself? 'Sesame Street' is the longest-running children's programme in US television history.

Here's to 40 more years! :)

The term is 'pescetarian', actually, and I am one

The rise of the non-veggie vegetarian

Why do I eat fish but not other animals? Because I have and can kill a fish myself. I can't bring myself to do the same for other animals, and I believe that if you're going to eat it, you should be willing to do so. People nowadays buy meat in pre-packaged cuts and really have no connexion to their food animals anymore. But that's also why I don't mind responsible hunting--so long as the meat is being used for food, and the animal is hunted judiciously. So I'm certainly not your average vegetarian, although I have described myself as a 'vegetarian who also eats fish' because it's just easier.

You'd never know from the last few posts

but I've been in a very good mood of late. My feet aren't hurting quite as much (still some, but I'm not hobbling home for forty minutes and three blocks). I got a call from the UK medical library regarding a job interview (yay!). I'm generally pretty happy with life right now. So just wanted to let you know I'm not becoming a curmudgeon. :)

Backorders are not fun when you're waiting for something

I am not the most patient of people, although I would say that I've become more patient as I've gotten older. But I know the mail takes time, so as I waited for shipment on an order, it actually took 10 days of not receiving it before I began to wonder where it was. When I checked online, it said the order had been 'booked'. Today I called the company and apparently it has been processed, but they're currently out of the item and it's on backorder. They get a shipment next week and the week after, so it could be another two weeks before it is shipped.

I'm going to be patient, but considering they got a payment the first day and I'm waiting almost a month for something bought and paid for, it's a little annoying. If it were a book or clothes or something, I wouldn't mind as much, but it's actually the pepper spray, so I'd like to have it on my walks home at night. Soon, since night happens earlier now. Oh, well. I'll wait. But I'd have appreciated at least an e-mail letting me know of the hold up.

Grumble, grumble

According to the local flu vaccine initiative for H1N1, there is a delay in vaccine, so clinics are subject to change. They've removed what was a schedule through December off the website and just have this weekend's planned clinics.

I appreciate what they're doing, but I think they overlooked something. Here is an e-mail I sent tonight:

I am in a fairly high risk category for developing H1N1 and its complications given that I work in a children's hospital, also work as a cashier in a busy gas station, have diabetes, and asthma. The last two prevent me from getting the inhaled vaccine that is available through my workplace, so I of course was interested in coming to a clinic.

Unfortunately, the two clinics which are to be held this Saturday are both at high schools that are not easily accessible by bus, and with the delays in the vaccine, the original schedule has been canceled and whether or not they happen will depend on availability of vaccine, so people are being urged to get vaccinated early. Please consider making sure that any future offerings be located in an area that does not require a mile or two walk to get to. Whether a person rides the bus because of choice, disability, or socioeconomic reasons, that should not be a hindering factor to receive a vital vaccination; if anything, those people are often more at risk, because their health is likely to be worse than average and they're packed into large moving vehicles with others who are sneezing and coughing away. Ironically, the health department is easier to get to than this weekend's clinics, but the vaccine is not available down there.

I am going to try to find a ride for this weekend. But please, make sure that everyone who needs it has access to the vaccine, and not just the people who can drive there.

Thank you.

Electionless

We didn't have an election on Election Day. There was no one to vote for, no race to watch. It was an off year, without even local races. Even the Secretary of State's website for the Commonwealth of Kentucky featured only ballots from last year. How odd. It's like everything happened all at once last year and now it's going to take two years to get over.

Like Doctor Who? How about Blackadder or Mr Bean? Or maybe you just want a laugh?

Here's a classic bit from Comic Relief for Red Nose Day in 1999, with Rowan Atkinson, among others, as Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death (Sorry, embedding is disabled, but it's well worth going to the link.)

Thanks to YKWIA for showing it to me.