Today is year fifteen

since the best early birthday present I ever received--a divorce decree. And I have appreciated it every day since. Yay!

Now they're saying it may be in dry food

and the various labs are disputing what substance caused the deaths in pets--aminopterin, as announced last week, or melamine, a Chinese fertilizer that may have contaminated wheat gluten. No word on what types of dry food may have been affected as of yet, if any. Menu Foods had a press conference earlier today discussing the melamine development. According to that, they only manufacture wet food, so if there is dry food contaminated, it may be another manufacturer.

I hope they get all this resolved soon!

FDA Tests Show Chemical in Pet Food

:) If they only knew

You Are 72% Pure

Well, you're not exactly an angel - but you're pretty darn close. But chances are, you have a couple juicy secrets deep in your closet.

How Pure Are You?

I am up ridiculously late

having been over at some friends' home into the wee hours. But I'm having a quick snack before bed, so I'll go ahead and type a few things in.

1) I learnt a new word today. Nosology, the science of classification of diseases. Cool. One should always learn something every day.
2) Spring is definitely here. We've had weather in the 70s and 80s, although tonight it's a little nippy with the wind, but still pleasant. All sorts of things are blooming, and the air is heavy with scents (and allergens). A mustard plant in the back of my building shot up in two days' time, it seemed, and it's blooming already. We had quite a spring storm the other day; it woke me up with lightning in the morning and the creek behind my apartment was swollen, but as far as I know we didn't have any of the problems others did with the line of thunderstorms.
3)I so need to do laundry tomorrow. I found a suit one of my co-workers gave me (her daughter had lost weight and had been my size) that hasn't been worn. Guess what I'll be in tomorrow?

Well, that's it. I'm finished eating; time to go to bed. 'Night.

Hmpf--not bad

Another badass quiz from eSPIN-the-Bottle... The eSPIN Personality Test MY RESULT:Class Clown You're not really wild, or a rebel, per se, but you do like to stand out from the crowd, and you love being the center of attention. That, plus your great sense of humor, makes you a quality addition to anyone's buddy list. Oh, and did we mention? You're pretty kind-hearted. Of course, it doesn't hurt to take things seriously sometimes. Like, for instance, your feelings. Be true to yourself and don't be afraid to make yourself vulnerable. It's scary sometimes, but it'll make you a stronger person. Take This Quiz!

My library has exploded

We have inherited a colour copier from another department. That is great, although it is apparently very slow. But it's displaced a whole mass of stuff that I'll have to store somewhere, or get rid of. That won't be easy. I can obviously offer up issues of old journals to other libraries, but there are usually just one or two takers for single issue. It's frustrating to weed materials.

So in the meantime I have boxes of books, CDs, magazines, an old printer on my library tables. And I have to get it cleared by tomorrow afternoon, when a nursing class comes in to use the meeting space.

Well, at least it should be interesting tomorrow. I hope they've taken the carrel upstairs. I need to store a lot under and on it.

Hmmm...

You Are a Mermaid

You are a total daydreamer, and people tend to think you're flakier than you actually are. While your head is often in the clouds, you'll always come back to earth to help someone in need. Beyond being a caring person, you are also very intelligent and rational. You understand the connections of the universe better than almost anyone else.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Put it on my to do list :)

You Can Change Your Life, But It Won't Be Easy

You really, truly want to change. You're just not sure that you can do it. You need a solid plan, supportive friends, and a strong will. Think about times you've made hard changes, and what you did to get through them. A change is in your future - you just need a little help getting started.

Can You Change Your Life?

Great :)

Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades: New 'golden age of young adult literature' declared

I'm sleepy, so here are a couple of good quizzes.

You Are a Blue Flower

A blue flower tends to represent peace, openness, and balance. At times, you are very delicate like a cornflower. And at other times, you are wise like an iris. And more than you wish, you're a little cold, like a blue hydrangea.

What Color Flower Are You?

Your Career Type: Social

You are helpful, friendly, and trustworthy. Your talents lie in teaching, nursing, giving information, and solving social problems. You would make an excellent: Counselor - Dental Hygienist - Librarian Nurse - Parole Officer - Personal Trainer Physical Therapist - Social Worker - Teacher The worst career options for your are realistic careers, like truck driver or farmer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Not really

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both. You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter. You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

What's Your Political Persuasion?

Muskrat Love

I forgot to mention the muskrats. The other day I was driving along and had stopped at a stop sign when this greyish-brownish creature with a gopher head and a flat tail came walking across the road. I scared the person I was with to death since I said it rather looked like a large rat, only with a different head (to the point he went all girly on me and started wringing his hands and even yelped. If he could have jumped out of the car, he would have. Of course, then he'd be outside with the giant killer rat. You should see what he did when a giant praying mantis was on the windshield.) :) Once we got to our destination, someone brought out a natural history encyclopaedia and we determined that yes, it was a muskrat, no doubt leaving the nearby water in search of a mate. We're also reasonably certain that the 'beavers' who cavorted in the swamp near my apartment complex were really muskrats.

Incidentally, I always hated 'Muskrat Love' by Captain & Tennille--and for that matter, didn't really care for 'The Wedding Song (There is Love)' even though it played at my wedding (I always found their music way too saccharine.) :).

So tired

An 11-hour workday plus running errands before work after staying up late, so a total of five hours' sleep, does not make for an energetic Rabid Librarian. It's like night and day with Sunday, after I got so much rest on Saturday.

I did stop by Kroger during the morning errand run and bought a couple of cyclamen plants. They're variegated with pretty pink flowers. I really wanted to get some beautiful (and fragrant) gold and orange freesias, but they were $20 a pot and I couldn't justify that. The cyclamen are smaller (and cheaper), but between the bright flowers and the bright wrappers they came in, they've dressed my desk nicely.

My boss at the gas station paid for our supper tonight out of appreciation where I'd been working so many extra hours and the guy I was working with was coming over from another store. We had Subway. I had a footlong, something I haven't done in quite awhile, tuna on Italian herbs and cheese bread, with veggies, spicy mustard, and oregano. Yummy. :)

Then there were the notes to do, and of course, the nightly taxi service. Now I'm home. Cerys ran over my foot with her claws on the way outside. Ouch. I really need to get her nails clipped, and I have the money right now, but I'm weighing it against the upcoming tax bill.

Hope your work week started out well.

That's me

Your Taste in Music:

90's Pop: Highest Influence Adult Alternative: Highest Influence Progressive Rock: Highest Influence 80's Pop: High Influence Classic Rock: High Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

It's been a long day, and I'm tired

but it's also been a successful one, and I wanted to write just a little before I go to sleep.

The game was riveting, enjoyable, and full of action. First we fought a proto-matter conglomeration of the town aldermen. Then we found the Mi-Go (Fungi from Yuggoth) base, fought Greys (you know, the aliens with the grey skin and big black eyes) and zorched five Mi-Go, then sealed their gate. One of the Fungi managed to destroy their work, which had the added benefit of destroying all the proto-matter that had infested the town, making for easier cleanup. A young girl whose pregnancy had been altered by them lost her baby, but lived herself. But not everyone was so lucky. Those altered by the Mi-Go had their alien organs dissolve. This happened to one of the player characters whose GI tract had been replaced during a space of missing time. We were able to put the character into a suspended animation-style trance, but it will only stave off the inevitable if we can't find her help. The mages would normally be the first to contact, but they're unreachable. So Margaret, our newest player, has lost her first character, at least for now. I have to admit, the stories in Delta Green's version of Cthulhu are pretty brutal. From what our game master has said, they're not particularly campaign-oriented, and player characters are expected to die right and left. And this particular story didn't even include sanity rewards. :(

Oh well, it was interesting, and we got to impersonate the FBI (at the FBI's request, but with plausible deniability, so it was best not to get caught). But Men in Black (or some sort of agency) showed up at the end and ushered us off the site as soon as we finished the aliens off. So we have some questions as to who's running the show (and whether Greys are real aliens are just proto-matter goo used as fronts by the Mi-Go).

I love Chtulhu. I am sorry about Margaret's character, Sarai Ahn, though. Maybe it's just selfish, though, but I'm so glad it wasn't my character. He'd already been in a major plane crash on his way to his first mission. It was a completely random roll to see who was affected, at least. He did have the distinction of being hit with friendly fire (an arrow to the thigh), though. But I think he did well considering his main weapon, the mystical sword of doom, is still in Chicago in the hands of the airline and he'll have to go there to get it back. Ah, bureaucracy. Give me Mi-Go any day by comparison. You know they're evil bugs trying to put your brain in a jar. It's pretty simple; the lines are neatly drawn. Much easier than real life. It's the other things the GM throws at us that usually throw us for a loop, like cultists with guns, crazy homocidal secretaries, and legal hurdles. :)

Another interesting one

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or eve a completely different life. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself. Your near future is a lot like the present, and as far as you're concerned, that's a very good thing. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

Hmm...

The True You

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to do more for you. With respect to money, you spend as little as possible. You think good luck depends on maintaining good relationships with others. The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort. You are the type of person who assumes that the world revolves around yourself. When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

Who's The True You?

Had to have a quiz, it's been a few days

You Are 16% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

Okay, I feel better

It's amazing how much the movie Evolution can perk you up. I still ache, and now I'm all snotty, but I feel better. It's silly, but I love it. The first time I ever watched it, I almost passed out laughing so hard when David Duchovny said, 'Give me back my friend you big sphincter!'

Sometimes it's the low humour in life that makes your day. :)

Man I feel crappy

Listening to: Evolution, the movie

I came home from work, had some pizza, then took a nap. Now every part of my body hurts. I can understand my feet; I was on them for seven hours today. But everything else? It's like a deep ache, not so much in my joints, but in my muscles. Which sounds exactly like what a friend had the other day. So maybe I'm coming down with something.

It USED to be used as an abortificant and for cancer

and it is used as rat poison in some other countries (not the US). So one has to ask, how did aminopterin even get into the food that has killed several cats and dogs and is likely to be linked to more deaths and illnesses, especially when the recalled food was made at two different plants?

Rat Poison Found in Tainted Pet Food

A mystery, and one that is unfortunately causing a great deal of grief for families of affected pets.

My thoghts are with the Edwards family

Edwards: Wife's cancer returns, campaign goes on

It's a shame that Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has returned. Edwards is my second choice for President (well, really the main choice, as much as I like Dennis Kucinich, whom I voted for in the primary last election and will probably do so again, I can't see him going all the way to the general election in 2008. We'll see. But I do like Edwards, especially since he seems to be reaching out towards those of us who are liberals. I can't say I care for Hillary Clinton, although I do like Barak Obama. It'll be difficult to choose. I prefer those who are opposed to the war, obviously, and who are progressive in their leanings, or at least liberal on social issues. I suppose right now I'd have to rank them Kucinich, Edwards, and Obama. That may change, depending on how the campaigns go and how much more I learn about the candidates' positions.

I know it will be very hard for Edwards to maintin his campaign and balance his family duties, but I'm impressed he's going to try.

Good, even though I do sympathise with the intent

Internet Porn Law Ruled Unconstitutional

COPA (Child Online Protection Act), enacted in 1998, had some serious flaws. Among others it violated the free speech rights of Americans. It also proposed using credit cards to verfify the user's status as an adult, which seems pretty stupid, although I'm sure it was well-meant. I mean, I'm not going to use a credit card to verify a person's age before selling him or her tobacco or alcohol. That would be crazy. Lots of minors have access to such cards.

I'm sorry that there hasn't been a good solution to keeping online predators and pornography away from children. But this wasn't one, and I'm glad the court has struck it down.

Supernatural is great

(Don't worry, I didn't read the Wikipedia article, just linked to it.) :)

I don't get to watch it much because some of its ideas are being incorporated into our game, and it wouldn't do to have an extra advantage over the other players, but the two episodes I've seen have been excellent. Tonight the two brothers were pursuing a werewolf.

*SPOILER WARNING*






Sam (whom I think is the hottest and likable of the brothers) fell hard for a girl who turned out to be the werewolf. In the end, despite trying a cure, they weren't able to save her. She asked Sam to shoot her with the silver bullet himself, which he did. There was much crying that ensued, both by Sam and even Dean, and me. It was very sad. I was asked if I could do that. I think I could, but thankfully, as there are no werewolves to my knowledge, I don't have to really consider that. But what if the person you loved were killing others, and had no control over that? And what if they were a creature that you couldn't just call the police and hand over to? It was a good premiss.

Happy Spring

Ours blossomed warm and sunny, with the forsythia and bulbs bursting with flowers. I love spring. Hope yours is equally beautiful (well, except for those going into autumn--but that can be quite nice as well.) :)

Not really a quiz, but a good preparation for the big 4-0

In 1967 (the year you were born)

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US President Johnson and Soviet premiere Aleksei Kosygin agree not to let any crisis push them into war Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black Supreme Court justice The first home microwave is released by Amana Dave Matthews, Kurt Cobain, Liz Phair, Vin Diesel, Julia Roberts, and Anna Nicole Smith are born St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup Disney's The Jungle Book and The Graduate are the top grossing films One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is published Paul McCartney announces that all four members of the Beatles have "dropped acid" For the first time, Jimi Hendrix sets his guitar on fire during a concert in London Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published The FCC orders that cigarette ads on television, radio and in print must include a warning about the health risks of smoking

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

I think I'll stick with Lexington

American Cities That Best Fit You::

60% Miami

55% Chicago

55% New York City

55% Philadelphia

50% Honolulu

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Can't sign out for the night without a quiz or two, right?

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

Companies in the wrong

Reed Elsevier, the publisher of many respectable scientific journals, and well known to librarians, has a little side business you may not know about. Through subsidiaries they sponsor arms fairs. We're not talking tiny gun shows, but huge events where people from all over the world, including countries with terrible human rights violations, come to buy weapons. Concerned? Read more at:

Reed Elsevier and the arms trade

Sign the petition requesting that Reed Elsevier stop organising the arms fairs. I'm number 1019 on the list.

In other news, Chiquita, best known for its bananas, has been fined $25 million for making payments to terrorist militias in Colombia supposedly to protect its employees. Despite being told over and over again that these payments were illegal, executives continued to okay the cheques (and eventually cash disbursements) up until 2004, when they sold off their interests in Colombia. For more on the story and some of the background of Chiquita, check out TruthDig's Chiquita’s Slipping Appeal. I know, it's a terribly liberal site. But the story has been covered by a variety of media, so feel free to Google the story elsewhere if you have an objection or are uncomfortable with their bias. Also, you can view Chiquita's statement online as well. In their favour, they voluntarily came to the Department of Justice with the information--although apparently not as soon as they should have. This fine is part of a plea agreement.

But I can't make the nasal sounds

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs. You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

What Language Should You Learn?

Okay, I stayed up way too late working on the taxes. Time to go to bed. 'Night.

Well, there's one Deadly Sin I dodged

Your Greed Quotient: 20%

You're anything but greedy. You're eager to share and give to others. For you, collecting material possessions is more trouble than it's worth!

How Much Greed Do You Have?

Interesting

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Apparently I'm just screwed

I checked with another service (TaxAct) and the amounts for state and federal are the same, $297 and $497 respectively. *Insert expletive of your choice here*

I still need to check with the IRS and the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet to see if the copy I have of my return is in error, since I actually received bills and paid them, rather than getting a refund, I'm pretty sure.

I hate tax time this year.

I can't tell if TurboTax is just evil or if I'm trying to kill the messenger

but it's saying that between state and federal I'm going to owe $800 or so on a salary of $23,000 (with three jobs). It also says on my past return that I made about that much in refunds last year when I actually paid about $200 on both. So I want to know what's going on. I think I'm going to have to get my records directly from the IRS (I have no idea what I've done with them). And I may have to just file an EZ form the old-fashioned way and go from there, because I'm not going to take the word of the free version of the program if it's saying I have to pay that much, nor do I want to pay another tax preparer since my taxes are so straightforward. Maybe I can run it through one of the IRS-approved programs linked from their site. Argh.

Ten questions

and they pegged my Myers-Briggs categorisation.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

The horror is unfolding in the game

and I must admit, I'm terribly hooked. One character has already had her entire gastrointestinal tract replaced by insectoid Fungi from Yuggoth (aka Mi-Go). Another got attacked by a gelatinous gooey thing of proto-matter, which fortunately wasn't successful. My character is without his trusty sword. We've got a teenager whose pregnancy has lasted three weeks but she's 6 months' along and an entire board of aldermen who no doubt are hooked up together in brain cases broadcasting as part of a group mind and controlling those townsfolk most vital to our investigation. What joy. And that's just the game itself, not the non-game conversations that hurt my brain. But I do love it. :)

A little disturbing

especially for Emma Watson and her family

Harry Potter Star Stalked

One does wonder how a random fan managed to waltz into her school. She's hired a private bodyguard, though, so hopefully that--along with the police involvement--should keep such incursions to a minimum. Still, it's got to be hard to try to keep a normal life at your local school when you're being stalked.

Cool beyond words

Creative Home Engineering

Thanks, YKWIA, for showing me it. You find the most interesting links.

Why am I blogging on a Saturday afternoon?

Because I only worked six hours today at the gas station and it feels like I actually have part of the day left to have fun. So, now I've played on the computer. I also plan to do some reading, some napping, and work on the second hard drive.

Yay!

Scary for pet lovers

Millions of Dog and Cat Food Containers Recalled Amid Reports of Kidney Failure, Deaths

For details of which specific brands are involved, click this link:http://www.menufoods.com/recall/. It's mostly store propietary brands in the can or pouches. They include major stores (Kroger, Meijer, Save-a-Lot, Winn-Dixie) and also premium foods such as Iams and Eukanuba.

Add my voice in spirit

Thinking of: Live's 'What are We Fighting For?'

Thousands march in Washington, other U.S. cities to protest Iraq war

Four years of death and destruction, with no clear end in sight--I opposed this war then, I oppose it now. We should have be concentrating on Osama bin Laden and Al Quaeda, not invading another country entirely. I'm not saying that nothing good has come out of the war; Saddam Hussein's toppling was a good thing. But that wasn't ostensibly why we entered this war, and the reasons were tenuous at best, lies at worst. But now things have degenerated into a civil war, and the whole thing's a mess.

I still support the troops, but I think this is an unjust war. And the cost to coalition members and particularly the Iraqi people are staggering. Please, to those in charge of this fiasco, please end it soon.

I have had success

I'm trying to recover information from a hard drive from a dead computer and I have managed to link up the hard drive to my computer, copy the pertinent files to CD, and find a Sharpie to label it with (that actually was the hardest part--my purple Sharpie has disappeared). That's not a bad two hours' work. Now I just have another hard drive to check, but I'm leaving that for tomorrow. The only annoyance was that I couldn't get it to work with the DVDs, just the CDs. Oh, well, it turns out I didn't need that much space. But I'll have to find my software to my DVD burner--it seems to have gone away in the great computer reconstruction of 2006.

Yeah, I do tend to blab, but I'm probably less open than I used to be

You Are 72% Open

You're a pretty open person - and you don't mind sharing the good, bad, and sometimes ugly. And while sometimes you do catch yourself blabbing on, you usually exhibit restraint. You're openness is quite refreshing, and it encourages other people to be open with you!

How Open Are You?

I'll believe it when I see it

Your True Love Will Find You Eventually

You definitely put yourself out there a little - but you could be doing more. If you're truly looking for love, try doing more things and meeting more people. You don't have to actively look for love, you just need to stay active. Be out there a little more, and the right person will find you!

Will Your True Love Find You?

One of the reasons my last name is Rowan

You Are A Rowan Tree

You are full of charm and cheer. You light up a room. And while you crave attention, you do it without ego. You are an interesting mix of contradictions - and very unpredictable. You are both dependent and independent, calm and restless. You are passionate, emotional, gregarious, and (at times) unforgiving.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Mind you, it's probably all a crock, but there you have it. When I changed my name I didn't care for most of my maternal surnames (Craig, Lamb, Roach, Reardon, among others), but I have for some time been drawn to the rowan tree with its rich folklore (it's supposed to be a powerful amulet of protection). So, I went with Rowan. [As to why I changed my name, I was divesting myself of my father's name, since we were estranged. Also, I never cared for the name Broadbent]. Since I was changing the last name, I went for broke and changed the whole thing from Lisa Kay Broadbent to Elisabeth Eilir Aranea Rowan. That way I'm still Lisa (short for Elisabeth). But online I use Eilir Rowan, which is terribly Pagan (Eilir means spring, rebirth, or butterfly in Welsh, and Alban Eilir is one name for the vernal equinox that Pagans celebrate as a holiday).

Four lives are lost apparently due to the meeting of mental instability and a trivial trigger

An Ex-Marine Was Shooter of Two Officers

Motive unknown in New York City shooting rampage

David Garvin shot a Greenwich Village pizzeria employee, Alfredo Romero Morales, in the back fifteen times, then shot two police auxiliary officers--Yevgeniy Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo, who were unarmed volunteers on patrol--before being gunned down by the regular police. Authorities believe that he plotted revenge for a friend's firing from the pizzeria. An ex-Marine less than honourably discharged from the service, Garvin had, according to a family member, displayed paranoid ideation over the last few years. He had nearly 100 rounds of ammunition on him. Scary.

The two officers who were killed will be given full police honours although technically it is not required for the auxiliaries. Also, there have been calls for changes that could make things safer for the auxiliary police force, such as uniforms that are markedly different from the regular police.

What a waste, and a shame, because it really looks like mental illness was involved.

Got a Playstation 3? Donate some of your computational time to further biomedical research

Stanford Helps Fight Alzheimer's with PS3

Like Seti@home, the Folding@home project (so named because it runs protein folding simulations) has been running on computers, but with the addition of the powerful game systems, studies that used to take two years could take about a month, if enough PS3 owners participate.

The projects include studies on

• Alzheimer's Disease
  
• Cancer
  
• Huntington's Disease
  
• Osteogenesis Imperfecta
  
• Parkinson's Disease
  
• Ribosome & antibiotics
  

After the fire, it's almost been rebuilt

Kentucky Castle

It's been a landmark since 1969, and when it burnt due to arson a couple of years ago, there were some who wondered it it would survive. But the owner has carefully rebuilt the castle and has plans to finish it--something that had not been done before.

Thereafter, twice each year, [the owner] will consider leasing out the entire facility, with its spectacular views of the countryside and its proximity to Keeneland Race Course, to discriminating individuals seeking unique tourist accommodations. At other times during the year, portions of the Castle may be rented to guests wishing to enjoy sophisticated lodging in a true medieval setting.

And, as the owner has steadfastly promised, the Castle will be available for select meetings, parties, and weddings annually.

No word on how expensive it would be, but what bride wouldn't want to get married in a castle as part of a fairy-tale wedding? :)

Anyway, it's good to see it being rehabilitated.

Yay, money

I just checked and my direct deposit went through, which is a happy thing. Now let's see if my cheque from the gas station comes in.

I forgot to mention last night that we had a brief thunderstorm that nearly took out the power while I was at work. The battery backup/surge protector I have now did an excellent job with it. Yay, APC!

Last but not least, there had to be a quiz, right?

You Are a Hunter Soul

You are driven and ambitious - totally self motiviated to succeed Actively working to acheive what you want, you are skillful in many areas. You are a natural predator with strong instincts ... and more than a little demanding. You are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force. An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people. You tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor. People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all. You tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone. Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

As you can probably tell, I'm playing catch-up

I didn't manage to cover all the things I have on my list, but did get to quite a few.

Some random things--

Tuesday morning I overslept even though I'd had a chance to recover some of the sleep I'd lost on Saturday night. My blood sugar was pretty high, so I think that was a factor. I never heard my alarm, and according to my clock, I never tried resetting it or anything. It's a little disturbing--I've had one other time when I was supposed to go get someone late at night and slept right through the meeting. My friends tried calling me to no avail, so one of them called another set of friends who had a car and sent them over to check on me. The doorbell never woke me up. Finally, they knocked on my window and set Cerys barking. I finally woke up, groggy, feeling practically drunk. Blood sugar ups and downs are touchy, scary things.

Fortunately the errands I was to run Tuesday afternoon were postponed, so I was able to go home on a nice sunny, warm spring-like day, prop the window open, and I slept for three-and-a-half hours. Then I did laundry, but still got to bed early that night, so today I felt refreshed and woke up early. I'm up a little late tonight, but I'm going to bed soon. I just wanted to update a little.

Hope your week is going well. I'm happy we're over the hump. Tomorrow I get paid (yay!) at the hospital and maybe the gas station, which is good, as I have 44 cents in my checking account as of right now. 44 cents! Agh! I'm looking forward to lunch, which is breakfast; I may use my anniversary card (free meal ticket) for it. We'll see. Or I may save it for when I'm truly destitute.

I'm also trying to decide what to do with the points that I earn in my checking account. Every time I use my debit card or write a cheque I accrue points. I'm over 20,000 now. I could get a $50 Macy's card, among other rewards. Or, I could save up another 20,000 and get a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. I'm trying to make up my mind. I think I'll wait for now and see how quickly they're accruing. I think it took 6 months to get the 20,000. I've got four years before they expire. I think I'll let them build up.

Stories that saddened me this week

Grief after New York fire that killed 10

A cabbie working at night received a frantic call from his wife telling him their apartment was on fire and she feared for the lives of her children and herself. He called 911 but by the time rescuers were able to put out the fire he'd lost his wife and four of his children.

A neighbour was on a business trip to his native Mali when the fire broke out. He lost five children in the conflagration. His wife and two daughters survived, but all were hospitalised.

The fire, the worst in New York City in years (not including the 9/11 attacks) was particularly devastating. The youngest victims were seven month old twins. There has been an outpouring of support, not only among the cities Muslims but from New Yorkers as a whole. What a blow, though, to lose so many of your children, your dreams of the future, your family.

and

'The system failed this little girl'

The father and stepmother in this case are now facing charges for the murder of Michaela Watkins. They say she fell down the stairs, but they apparently waited 45 minutes to call authorities, by which time the 10-year-old was already dead. Neighbours report witnessing past abuse of the child, including her father kicking her in the back. She was in her father's custody despite concerns over domestic abuse because her mother had been neglectful and she's spent some time in state custody. Both the police and social workers had been out to the house, and an internal investigation is being conducted within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The system seems to really have failed this girl. It's a shame. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed.

Need to identify a fruit, seed, or nut?

Family Guide for Fruits and Seeds

So much for intellectual freedom

Wake County Public Libraries To Censor MySpace

A new tool

Relemed, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine
Still in its infancy, it tells you how relevant (and ranks results that way) a citation is to your search in MEDLINE, but it doesn't tell you how many results or allow advanced searching yet. In the meantime, try HubMed. And, of course, if sorting by date is fine with you, there's the gold standard of PubMed.

Well, it's not the Battle of Thermopylae I studied in school

but what do you expect of something based on a graphic novel?

Oh, what a lovely war - that hides its violent truth

Go tell of the Spartans (not so much a review, as a commentary of what the 300 meant in the author's family)

Interested in being a librarian?

Check out what you do, average pay, etc.:

US News & World Report's Executive Summary: Librarian

Occupational Outlook: Librarian

Let's hope the supply-demand balance gets sorted out soon

Kentucky swamped with unwanted horses

Because it's become so unpopular to send a horse off to slaughter for dog food or horse meat for Europeans, there's a glut in the market, devaluing horses. They say this is why many horses are not being provided for as they should. It sounds to me like individuals are choosing not to care for the horses they own, allowing them to starve and break down, rather than pay the expense to euthanise the animal. I'm not sure you can blame that on slaughterhouse bans. If you can't afford to care for a horse, then you shouldn't own one. The same goes for any animal, something I've learnt the hard way over my years as an impoverished pet owner. Still, it's kind of sad when a horse's value is less alive than the amount it would take to euthanise via vet.

Last quiz for the night

Your Element Is Fire

Your passion and emotion are as obvious as the brightest flame. You make sparks fly, and your passion always has the potential to burst out. You are exciting and creative - and completely unpredictable. You sometimes exercise control, and sometimes you let yourself go. Friends describe you as sensitive, spirited, and compulsive. Bright and blazing with intensity, you seem mysterious and moody to many.

What's Your Element?

Well, it's better than a psychotic inner child...

Your Inner Child Is Scared

Like a kid, you tend to shy away from new experiences. You prefer what's tried and true - novelty is scary! New foods, new places, and new friends are difficult for you to deal with. Some say you're predictable, but you enjoy being comfortable.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Well at least I was over half...

You Are 52% American

Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

I guess i'm just that mellow

You Are Sunset

Even though you still may be young, you already feel like you've accomplished a lot in life. And you feel free to pave your own path now, and you're not even sure where it will take you. Maybe you'll pursue higher education in a subject you enjoy - or travel the world for a few years. Either way, you approach life with a relaxed, open attitude. And that will take you far!

What Time Of Day Are You?

Well, at least I'm coordinated with my wardrobe

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

That goes way beyond 'don't ask, don't tell'

Chicago Navy Veteran Angry Over Anti-Gay Comments

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Peter Pace, said homosexuality is immoral during an interview with the Chicago Tribune. Many gay groups have called for him to apologise, and he has dialed things back, insisting they were his own personal views and not military policy, but he's stopped short of apologising for the remark. In a time when the military is desperate for every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine, there's a lot of discussion of how out-of-step the military is with the general population over gay issues and how other 'civilised' countries allow their gays to serve their nation without stigma.

The need to give our soldiers good mental health care in response to the stresses of war

Study: Thousands of veterans return with mental illness

This is absolutely hilarious

Introducing the book

It warms the cockles of my librarian/mediaevalist/techie heart.

One last...

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Forlorn Belly Dancer. Where You Lived: Korea. How You Died: Hung for treason.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Well at least I get out of my house. :)

You Are 68% Shy

You are a very shy person, and it has started to impact your life in a negative way.If you can avoid human contact, you usually do. And as a result, you miss out on a lot.

How Shy Are You?

It's not the friends holding me back, it's myself--and my insecurity

You Are Pretty Happy

You generally have a happy, fulfilling life. But things could be a little better, and deep down, you know it.Maybe you need more supportive friends or a more challenging career.Something is preventing you from being totally happy. You just need to figure out what it is!

How Happy Are You, Really?

So I got some sleep

which was a happy thing, but I felt like crap this morning, hung over even (when really sucks when you didn't even get drunk, you know?) My blood sugar was 247 this morning before I even ate anything. After lunch, I felt very, very fatigued and foggy; I could barely focus on anything. I went ahead and tested and it was 300. It really felt like my brain was goo. Syrupy goo.

Lately I've managed to be in the 150s-170s on good days, up near 200 on bad ones. Sometimes I can blame diet as the culprit (although this afternoon for lunch I just had grilled cheese and tomato basil soup. Now granted, I had two grilled cheese. Maybe it was too much bread--it was one 15 g of carbohydrates more than I should have had, if I remember the dietician's recommendation correctly. But it's not like I was downing candy bars.) On the other hand I have eaten doughnuts at night and my blood sugar's quite good the next morning. I have found eating Margaret bread (the Amish friendship bread) late at night does elevate it, and come to think of it, I did have a piece last night, because I finished up the last one from the game while I was cleaning up. I think having just that hour of sleep and starting my period may have helped throw it out of whack, too. I think it's time to make an appointment with Dr Nesbitt--although I'm almost afraid to because I don't want to wind up on insulin. But there are a lot of different pills out these days; I hope one of them might help me with the diabetes.

Anyway, I felt crappy all day. Then I went into the gas station and did a lot of the grunt work (trash, cooler, cleaning, coffee, etc.) because we had a girl over from another store and I was more familiar with what needed to be done, so I left her on register and did a lot of running around and getting things done. That made me feel a little better (exercise helps bring the blood sugar down). I got off at 8 pm, too, so it's not like my night was shot like it is when I get off at 10. It was barely dark due to the Daylight Savings. :) That brought me up to feeling bad, rather than wretched.

Now I need to do some religious stuff (take a bath, go and pour a libation to Hekate, etc.) Then I hope I can get some more sleep. I still need to catch up.

Why am I not surprised

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict.One moment you're in your own little happy universe...And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

I love purple

You Are Lilac

You are a very innocent and pure person. Ethics matter to you. Your friends consider you a great listener, and you often play therapist to your friends. You are good at drawing out truths in conversation, however painful they may be. Non judgmental and patient - people feel like they can tell you anything!

What Color Purple Are You?

Home at last

After one hour of sleep, I arrived at 7 am to work on my weekly pre-game chores, then the game, which got a late start, went to nearly 11 pm, followed by notes, and finally, home. Needless to say, I'm pooped, although I really needed to eat something so here I am blogging while I eat cheese quesidillas.

The game was great. We have Mi-Go seemingly able to control a small town in Tennesee. It reminds me a little of that movie (I don't remember the title) where the little kid was trying to convince the adults that aliens had taken over the city and they had something protruding from the base of the neck that controlled the townsfolk. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Well, I'm finished with the food now, so here's to a potential 7 1/2 hours' sleep. :) Have a good night, and a great coming week.

I can see that

You Are Italian Food

Comforting yet overwhelming. People love you, but sometimes you're just too much.

What Kind of Food Are You?

So. Tired.

Last night I was in bed by 3:30 and up at 11 this morning. Tonight it'll be nearly 5 (new time) and having to be up by 6. That, plus all the working I've been doing this weeks makes for a tired Rabid Librarian (and indeed, makes her a bit less rabid for now).

I really must pencil sleep in somewhere.

So did your computer handle the earlier time change? Mine did, I'm happy to report.

Okay, that is all for now. Good night.

Heehee

Unshelved--March 8, 2007

Today's strip was hilarious. I have a friend who has long advocated cataloguing/shelving books by colour. And no, he would never put pink near puce. It would be anathema to his gayness.

Drat

Despite utmost care, I have discovered the first scratch on my new glasses. It's like a ding on a new car--you know it's inevitable, but you dread it. It's pretty small and not very deep, but there nonetheless.

Sigh. Oh, well, there's nothing I can do about it now, as far as I know, except try to keep from causing new ones.

Now it's time to go to work, so I'll keep this short. Have a wonderful day.

Today was a rather pleasant day

The weather was nice--sunny and in the 50s, very spring-like. I was busy at both jobs all day, making the time go by quickly. I got a couple of hours in on the gaming notes. I'm currently working on the honeymoon-in-the-Everglades-with-mad-science-and-alligator-men. Ah, yes, what fun that was.

So now I'm home, listening to my dog do her weird trilling, not-quite-bark noise that she makes as she rubs against every surface in the house because she has itchy, dry skin. She does this every now and then and it's flipping weird and just obsessive. I think it's time to give her another medicated shampoo bath. She's getting so fragile, though, I'm almost afraid to hoist her into the tub. There, I think I've scritched the itchy spots, she's calming down.

I love Cerys. She has been a great comfort to me, particularly after my divorce and the years I dealt with depression. She's almost sixteen. I can't imagine life without her, and I hope her passing will not trigger another bout of depression. She really has been the best dog for me. I can still see her at the pound making this noise and pawing under the gate to get to me. She has been a wonderful gift from the Goddess. But I have to admit, every time I come home I wonder if I'll find she's passed in her sleep. If she's deeply asleep and doesn't wake to my coming home, I'll tiptoe in and watch her breathe just to be on the safe side. That probably seems pretty morbid, but I think it's rather natural at this age to worry about it. On the other hand, if she died in her sleep that's not a bad way to go. I'd rather she not suffer. I'd like to be with her when it happens, but we can't always have what we want. I put down Buns and Darius and stayed with both through the process, and fortunately I was with Spock when he died--I'm not sure I could have borne putting him to sleep, although in retrospect it would have been less traumatic for both of us, I suppose. And I hope to do the same with Cerys. But it's just so hard to think of her as gone. I'm not sure how I'll respond when the house is empty of pets for the first time in twenty years. I've said I wanted to take a break, and I still believe that. I could see maybe having a cat or two. But I can't see getting another dog--it would have such big paws to fill. :)

Those sad thoughts aside, it really has been a good day for me. I'll end with a quiz. Good night.

Your EQ is 113

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Hmpf

You Are 50% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal...Other things you do are downright strange. You've got a little of your freak going on. But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself.

How Normal Are You?

I have a list of things to blog about

unfortunately, I don't have it here, but there's quite a bit of library-related stuff I've come across, so I'll try to get to them sometime this week.

My workweek continues to be pretty full. Tomorrow I work between the two jobs from 10-8, then Friday is 10-2:30 and 5-10, Saturday 12-10, Monday 10-8, and Wednesday 10-8. (Thursday and Tuesday are my normal 10-2:30 at the hospital). Whew! But the money's helpful.

Yesterday my boss at the hospital called me in to look over my performance appraisal. I got the maximum raise, 3.5%. The only thing I got downgraded on had to do with that verbal warning about the Internet policy when I apparently blogged something offensive at work. I really wish I knew what that was all about--the only thing I can think of is where I quoted someone else whose assertion I didn't even agree with. Oh, well. It just annoys me, because it's the section on integrity and ethics, which I've always scored really well on. I guess what matters is that I'm getting my raise.

Today's weather was really quite nice, although it got a little chilly this evening. But it really seemed like a sunny, spring day, and tomorrow is supposed to get into the 50s, and so be even better. I expect we'll have a lot of car washes tomorrow, along with huge amounts of Powerball tickets, since it's up to $120 million for tomorrow's draw. Monday's big seller was money orders, as most people had to get their rent in by the 5th.

Finally, I have to remember to change my clocks by setting them ahead at 2 am Sunday March 11th. Starting this year the change happens on the second Sunday in March, rather than the first one of April. I remember when it was at the end of April--it seems to creep up over the years.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll post real library stuff soon. In the meantime, not much is happening in my life and I thought I'd share what little there is with you all.

An hour of TV shorts can hurt your brain

Adult Swim is so wrong. And I have to admit, I love several of the programmes on it, especially Robot Chicken, Family Guy, and Moral Orel (with the town librarian, Ms. Censordoll, whose job is to protect children from 'filthy thoughts'), plus some of the dark, artistic anime shows they've had. The other day someone introduced me to Saul of the Mole Men, based on such shows as Land of the Lost and Doctor Who (both childhood favourites of mine), which just hurt my brain. It's got the campy special effects down pat, and it was pretty good. I loved another show, Frisky Dingo. I particulary liked its animation and humour. Be sure to check them out if you have a somewhat quirky (read: weird) sense of humour.

A strange quiz, but right on

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are a giving soul. Way too giving in fact. You often get stuck doing the dirty work that no one else will do. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you're lucky. You are a very outgoing person. You are true to yourself, and you never hold back. In relationships, you tend to be very romantic and demanding. You'll treat your partner like gold, but you expect a lot in return.

What Do Your Bathroom Habits Say About You?

No!

No new 'Heroes' until April 23rd. And Sylar was cutting into Peter's head, with Mohinder pinned to the ceiling, not to mention all the other twists. Aaaaggghhh!

This whole mid-season hiatus thing sucks. Really. Still, I'm looking forward to its return.

Poor Margaret

I've never heard of this before, but apparently her car is shifting randomly to various gears whenever she puts on the accelerator (which has to be floored to go anywhere at all). She discovered this in stop-and-go rush hour traffic on Nicholasville Road, our most congested thoroughfare. Needless to say, she's borrowed a car from family members while they try to sort out what's wrong; it had been supposedly fixed at the dealership and then continued this spastic behaviour. Nothing like suddenly flying into reverse with the accelerator to the floor, eh? I'm just glad she wasn't hurt.

That's good

Two more Pitcairn sex offenders sentenced to prison

I've followed this story for a couple of years now. It's distinguished from other cases in four ways:

1. The small, tight-knit community of about 50 people--nine families--many interrelated
2. The notoriety of Pitcairn, the island where Fletcher Christian and the other HMAV Bounty mutineers took Tahitian wives (some perhaps by force) and settled
3. The isolation of the island, half-way between New Zealand and Peru
4. The length of time this has been going on--four decades--becoming a culture of abuse

That brings a total of 8 men who have been sentenced in this scandal, including a former Mayor and a former Magistrate and representing a good chunk of the able-bodied men on the island. The British government, which claims sovereignty in this matter, will house the men in a prison built on the island in response to the convictions.

There have been several challenges in these cases, both in whether the British government does, indeed, have jurisdiction, and claims that sex with girls as young as 12 was seen as normal from the island's founding based on Polynesian customs. (The allegations, however, include girls as young as five).

Custom or not, it's obvious that this setup was very convenient for the men and devastating to the girls, judging from testimony, and certainly did not follow normal consensual parameters, if such young girls can even be said to have the ability to consent. It's good that these trials are putting it to an end and making the perpetrators accountable for their actions.

It's divided the community terribly, of course, and with it struggling with such a low population it may sound a death knell for Pitcairn. But this was important to bring to light regardless on the effect of the island. Hopefully, future children of the islanders will not have to worry about being raped in the underbrush. Kudos for those (outsiders, such as a policewoman and a Seventh-Day Adventist minister) who recognised the abuse and brought it to light and for those women and girls who stepped forward with their stories and maintained their complaints despite pressure from others in the community and with lingering trauma from the abuse itself.

A quiz before I say goodnight

You are from Neptune

You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability.You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea.Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion.You can be in a room full of friendly people and feel all alone.If you don't get carried away with one idea, your spiritual nature will see you through anything.

What Planet Are You From?

I saw just a smidge

Listening to: 'Lithium' by Evanescence

of the eclipse as I walked out after work tonight. It's been an odd day weather- and sky-wise. It started out fairly nice this morning, albeit windy, and then turned to snow (not sticking, just big giant flakes going horizontal in the wind), but it stayed sunny for the most part. It threw me off. I actually saw the flakes and thought, oh, it's the cotton off of the trees, because it had been so warm and it kind of messed my sense of time (as in a month or two off), and unfortunately asked what the stuff was blowing in the wind. One of the customers said, gently, that it was snow. So brain dead today. Over the course of the day it turned pretty darn cold. Now it's snowing again, and I think it's beginning to stick, so who knows how things will be tomorrow. This, after temperatures in the fifties most of the week. Welcome to Kentucky weather.

What else to blog about? Tomorrow is GM's (Game Master's) Day, and we're appropriately enough, gaming. I picked up a little something for ours at the Rusty Scabbard. Be sure to show your GM how much you appreciate him/her. It takes a lot of investment in time and books, not to mention plotting out your demise in a way that is both fun and consistent, to do a bang-up job as a Game Master. And if you're very fortunate enough to have a particularly talented one, like ours, you definitely need to show appreciation with proper bribes and good player behaviour, on GM's day and every day. :)

Last thing for the night (I do have to work tomorrow, after all)

A quiz, of course, and so true:


Take the What High School Stereotype Are You? quiz.

A friend and I were talking about a geek/nerd/dork quiz I took a long time ago and I couldn't remember what I came out as. I looked it up and it was definitely nerd (95%):

Nerd Geek Dork quiz
Tri-Lamb Material 95 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 60% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.You scored better than half in Nerd and Dork, earning you the coveted title of: Tri-Lamb Material. The classic, "80's" nerd, you are what most people think of when they think "nerd," largely due to 80's movies like Revenge of the Nerds and TV shows like 'Head of the Class'. You're exceptionally bright and smart, and partly because of that have never quite fit in with your peers or social groups. Perhaps you're realized, or will someday, that it is possible to retain all of the things that you like about being brilliant and still make peace with the social cliques around you. Or maybe you won't--it's really not necessary. As the brothers of Lambda Lambda Lambda discovered, you're fine just the way you are and can take pride in that. I mean, who wants to be like Ogre, right!?

Two good bipolar resources

Bipolar Disorder (a .pdf file; requires a viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Psychiatric and medical comorbidities of bipolar disorder (including diabetes, OCD, and ADHD--all of which I have)

Hahahaha

Google as health plan. Check out a Dilbert from last month. The sad thing is, I can well imagine it. By the way, the Dilbert Blog is pretty funny, too. And yes, Scott Adams has googled his own health condition, spasmodic dysphonia, which isn't fun at all.

Can you tell I'm catching up on stuff that I haven't had time to blog about?

A little late, since the controversy's died down a bit

but I felt I should weigh in anyway; I was too busy to earlier.

Children's Book Stirs Battle With a Single Word

Of course it's stupid to ban an entire book (The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron)--especially a Newbery winner--because it mentions a dog's scrotum. But what concerns me is that the article is written to make it sound like all we librarians do are scan through books to find some pretence to keep them off the shelves and out of the hands of thinking individuals (which, oddly enough, does include children), when in truth the vast majority of librarians are far more on the other end of the spectrum, ready to fight to the death to defend intellectual freedom. My faith in the New York Times has never been that high--especially after the plagiarism scandal, but this did nothing to raise my opinion of the quality of writing, although I'm sure some of the reporters are quite excellent.

That's not saying that the book isn't being banned, and by librarians, no less. I'm not sure how much has been spurred by actual book challenges (when parents and other patrons insist on the removal of a book for a variety of reasons, often complicated by the fact that they either didn't read the book or object to something for very spurious reasons). There are some librarians on the public library services to young adults and children who did say they would remove it or not order it, despite the fact that they collect all the Newberys. I don't get that. But then, I'm not dealing with incensed patrons, either, so maybe it's not my place to judge.

Still, it seems terribly un-librarianlike. And I still wish the New York Times had published a more balanced article.

I am happy to report

that my computer is back, after several months. Back in August it was struck by lightning and the motherboard fried. I made do with an older loaner, but it's good to have mine back. It's a slightly faster processor now, too, and the CD burner has been upgraded to a DVD. John and my mom brought it up this afternoon. He was able to restore everything on the drive, too, so all is not lost. The first thing I did was go out and buy a proper surge protector with battery backup. (I did have it on an older surge protector, but it apparently wasn't enough.)

The other good thing is that I have a project that involves taking old data on floppies and an older hard drive and burn them on backup CDs, and I should be able to do that with mine.

I don't know if there was something computer-specific causing the Blogger problem or if it was on their end, so it could have been the switching of the computers or it could have been pure coincidence. But what matters is that I can blog again.

Apparently job issues are following my family. I told my mom that the job at the public library fell through. My mom is no longer with the nursing home where she was working. I'm not sure why, although John said they screwed her over. So she's looking for a new job, even here in Lexington (they live about 45 minutes to an hour away from here).

And they were on their way back to visit John's mom in the hospital. She's going to be put in a nursing home for a short time. She has a lot of health issues, including diabetes, just like the rest of us.

Okay, time for some of Margaret's Amish Friendship Bread and then checking on Cerys and then I'll be back.

I think it's back

I say that because the formatting buttons which had disappeared are back on top of where I type in the post. Sorry for the problems. I've got a backup of the posts that weren't showing up and will repost them.

Test

Let's see if this shows up.

Well, I've reported the bug. Even tried to restart the computer. No luck. Will try again tomorrow. Good night.

Blogger is having issues--the text of my posts are NOT showing up...I've backed them up and will reinstate them if possible

On a more serious note...

How the US is failing its veterans is an excellent article looking at
the job the Veterans Administration is doing (or failing to do) for those wounded or disabled as a result of the Iraq conflict.

One of the reasons they're so overwhelmed? In World War II, two soldiers were wounded for every one that died. Then medical science got better,
and by Vietnam it was three-one. Now? Sixteen are injured for every death, and these are often devastating injuries such as traumatic brain injury
or those requiring amputation. Plus, it's harder to quantify the emotional toll. Mental health issues affect thousands of veterans but many are getting little if any treatment.

It is a travesty to wage a war without taking care of the men and women who risk their lives everyday to fight it. I have and never will support this war,
but I recognise that those who serve are doing so because they want to defend their country.

Their country need to do more to provide them all the benefits promised in exchange for that service, especially when all the flags and military ritual is gone and there's only a hospital bed or a mortgage to make.

How bizarre...emotionless, moi?

Find your Celestial Choir

Even in quizzes, I mimic

What type of Fae are you?

Was there any doubt? I'm the ever loyal sidekick, after all...

Take the What Type of Friend Are You? quiz.

Cool

If you live in the Americas, keep an eye in the sky at moonrise (about sunset and a little after) on March 3rd, because there will be a total lunar eclipse. We'll just get the end of it; those in Africa and Europe will see the whole thing (it'll be later for them in the night). Pretty much, though, unless you're in the middle of the Pacific, you can see part of the eclipse (there's a map on the site, too. To read it, just let the cursor hover until a zoom box appears in the lower right corner, then click on that to make it bigger.

Remember, you're a part of the cosmos. Enjoy the show.

And with that, Adieu! at least for tonight

You scored as Drama Queen. Your primary purpose is to create a story. You might even keep a log or journal of your adventures. Your characters are as real as any modern authors. Drama Queen 88% Do-gooder 75% Goldbricker 50% Rules Lawyer 50% Combat Monster 44% Comedian 31% Instigator 19% Munchkin 0% What type of RPG gamer are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Surprising, but better than most of the alternatives

Take the What Role-Playing Stereotype are You? quiz.

Yay!

The case was dismissed, which is good, as I paid them three months ago. Apparently in this case, it would have been fine so long as I paid right up to court. It just depends on the judge and prosecutor you get, though. There's only one cheque I didn't pay off before going to court, because I couldn't afford to at the time, but I have more than one of these on my record.

At least now I can look at getting the dismissed cases off my record. Unfortunately I can't do anything about the actual convictions, from what I can tell.

Oh well. I'm a criminal, but just a petty one at least. I saw a lot of people in jail and out today who were facing felonies and some pretty serious misdemeanours, too. I definitely want to stay on the good side of the law from now on.