I spent 11 years in a history grad programme without getting my PhD

If only I had seen this first...



Like many grads in the humanities, I wound up as a librarian. Granted, I've been underemployed for years, but in the long run, I think it was a better idea.

Of course, there is this:



Thanks to David Rothman for sharing.

It's been the morning for phone calls

I got two bits of bad news within five minutes of each other this morning as I was doing my laundry. One, a person I know was fired after 23 years of dedicated service at the floral shop he worked for essentially because his health is poor and no doubt he's costing them in insurance. 'Well, you're slowing down. We don't want you to get ill.' Phooey on them. I hope their shop runs into the ground. He was the type of employee that came early, stayed late, and managed to keep it together through the intense pressure of times like Valentine's Day, when florists are as busy as accountants at tax time. Unfortunately, wrongful termination claims are difficult to prove. But that was just wrong of them to do, and I hope their shop goes under, to be quite honest.

Then there's a friend, a former co-worker, who called to check up on me because he saw someone who looked like me at the bus stop, which he could see from his hospital window. He's very sick with complications of pneumonia. He's pretty young, not yet thirty, but this is really doing a number on him. True to form, he didn't focus on his problems, but was asking how my grandmother was.

These two people need some good thoughts winging their way to them. I know they're in my prayers.

10 days after, another 'Fiddler' great dies

10 days after Joseph Stein, who wrote the 'book' for 'Fiddler on the Roof', died, his colleague Jerry Bock, who gave us the wonderful music for the show, as well as other musicals, has passed as well.

I can't think of any better tribute than his own music...


PS I wrote this a few days ago. I'm not sure why it didn't publish. Sorry about that.

Well, drat

I got a call today asking if I would like to be my state medical library association's president (it's a two year gig). I explained that I would love to, but I don't own a car and this makes it unlikely that I can get to every meeting, and I rely on others to get to the ones outside of Lexington. Which is a bummer, because I really would like to do it. I was president of one of the groups that later merged into this organisation years ago, and really enjoyed it.

Sigh. I really need to be doing more to save for a car. Of course, starting this month, I'm finally starting to pay on my student loans, so that might be a little more difficult.

On a high note, the chief of staff and another surgeon at the hospital caught me in the hall the other day and really complimented what I do. And I had a site-visit from the state coordinator of the early literacy project I run and they were pleased too. Plus...I had another book review published on Friday. It's in this month's issue of The Journal of Hospital Librarianship and is on a book about operating interlibrary loan services on a shoestring budget.

So career-wise, things are nice, and I've been working a little overtime, but that's ending as of tomorrow. The data entry work is going well (that was where the overtime came in).

As an added bonus, I got rides both to and from work today as one of my co-workers saw me walking to the bus stop this morning and took me over to the hospital, and of course there's the nice woman who has been giving me rides home the last few few weeks.

Tomorrow I'm going over to a friend's house so I need to remember to wear light clothing since I'll be catching the bus. Fortunately the bus stop across from the hospital is a little more visible than the one directly in front of it (no trees).

I've been reading through my news feeds as I had not done so for several days. I found this gem:

http://www.savethewords.org/ is run by the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary. It allows you to 'adopt' words that are considered obsolete so that they can continue to be used and enjoyed. The site wasn't loading as I write this, but that should (hopefully) be a temporary thing. Thanks to LISNews for the link.

Okay, I think I'm going to go do some reading. I still need to finish the New York Times on the Kindle and then I have Charlaine Harris' Grave Secret out from the library and need to read it before the 16th. The Times reminds me, there was a sad but interesting story today:

For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out

It is shameful here to admit to troubles at home, and mental illness often goes undiagnosed or untreated. Ms. Zada, the hospital staff said, probably suffered from depression. The choices for Afghan women are extraordinarily restricted: Their family is their fate. There is little chance for education, little choice about whom a woman marries, no choice at all about her role in her own house. Her primary job is to serve her husband’s family. Outside that world, she is an outcast.

“If you run away from home, you may be raped or put in jail and then sent home and then what will happen to you?” asked Rachel Reid, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who tracks violence against women.

Returned runaways are often shot or stabbed in honor killings because the families fear they have spent time unchaperoned with a man. Women and girls are still stoned to death. Those who burn themselves but survive are often relegated to grinding Cinderella existences while their husbands marry other, untainted women.

The women often mistakenly think that immolating themselves will be quick. Instead, it can lead to burns, infections, lingering deaths, or horrible scars. The fact that they feel so desperate that they do this is so sad and terrible.

This came up in conversation today

It's been 26 years, but YKWIA and I could remember it almost verbatim--and I have an awful memory otherwise.

In my head throughout the day for some reason

I forgot about all the books in the video, and the books burning...

They say misfortune comes in threes--pray for Haiti

Earthquake...cholera...tropical storm

Tropical storm Tomas taking torrential rains to Haiti

Apparently there is a saying in Haiti: 'We are bamboo. We bend, but we don’t break.' I see proof of that every day, but as one UN official put it (and I may be paraphrasing--I don't have the quote at hand), 'Can't this country get a break?'

My thoughts and prayers are with them. I think another donation to MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières)/Doctors Without Borders is in order.

How to know you've been fighting a war too damn long

Kids on 9/11 now fighting long Afghan war: Many of the troops who invaded in 2001 have left military and moved on

After awhile, don't you kind of lose sight of why? I don't think we have just yet, but still.... And the Afghani people have seen 30 years of war, with the Soviets, the Taliban, and the Americans/NATO forces all in that time. So sad.

I don't know what the outcome will be, but it will no doubt be messy. One of the things I like about the New York Times (I have a free two-month subscription on the Kindle, so I've being reading that every day) is that they always list the number of troops that have died by that day, along with any new ones. A great proportion seem to be from the 101st Airborne, which I believe is based, or at least partly so, here in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Quote of the day

Cree proverb: 'Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money.'

And on a lighter note...

'To err is human...to arr is pirate!'

Can you tell I've been checking out Northern Sun?

My favourite T-shirt is on sale for only $9 but I'm afraid to wear it because I might just get lynched, living in the Bible belt as I do. It says 'God was my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.' So wrong. Nothing against God Himself, but I hate the whole 'God is my co-pilot' thing.

Stiff-upper-lip journalism, sans a certain alien saviour in a blue box

'Where's Doctor Who when you need him? In fiction, I imagine!'

Damn the bad luck when you have giant alien killer crabs to deal with. :)