I just watched

the series finale of M*A*S*H, a series I dearly loved growing up, out from Netflix. The episode, called 'Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen', was just as moving and well done as I remember in 1983, airing when I was fifteen.

I do have one question, though, something I didn't notice all those years ago. Why is Colonel Potter's horse Sophie male? He had dangly bits not seen in a mare. How come in Hollywood they don't take care of details like that? I mean, really, I think Colonel Potter, an ex-cavalry officer, would know the difference, wouldn't you? And indeed, he did, for when the horse was first introduced, it was referred to as a colt.

Anyway, it was good to watch, and a fine ending to a long and storied series, and it was even more poignant now that Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Potter, has died. The folks involved with that show have reason to be proud of their work.

This is absolutely amazing

I want to dance with the books, too, and fly. They have captured the joy that books bring, the enrichment, and the imagination, so well. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore also won an Oscar for best animated short film. And it was created in Shreveport, Louisiana, near where I spent six years of my childhood.

Thanks to my childhood friend Jody Sauers Cummins for sharing this on Facebook!

I admire the goal, not to mention it's a possible place for weeded library books

In a Flood Tide of Digital Data, an Ark Full of Books

“We want to collect one copy of every book,” said Brewster Kahle, who has spent $3 million to buy and operate this repository situated just north of San Francisco. “You can never tell what is going to paint the portrait of a culture.”

As society embraces all forms of digital entertainment, this latter-day Noah is looking the other way. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur who made his fortune selling a data-mining company to Amazon.com in 1999, Mr. Kahle founded and runs the Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving Web pages — 150 billion so far — and making texts more widely available.

But even though he started his archiving in the digital realm, he now wants to save physical texts, too.

Thanks to Gerry McKiernan for the link.

Also interesting

The Bookstore in the Library

One way to think about patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) is that it sets up a bookstore in the library. It’s not what we usually think of as a bookstore — there are no dusty shelves or a chic coffee bar. Nor is this what we have come to expect from online bookselling, where Amazon sets the standard. The library bookstore is a new phenomenon, but there is a chance that it will become more widespread, perhaps even ubiquitous in the coming years. I hope it does. It would be a good thing for scholarly communications.

Thanks to Pat Devine for the link.

Interesting

The Once and Future Library: An architect’s perspective on designing for changing constituencies

This is what they're talking about on the nightly news

Huge solar flare heading toward Earth; power disruptions, satellite problems are possible

And unrelated...

Winter of 2012 Named 4th-Warmest for US

In honour of a friend

who somehow managed to lose his Blackberry phone down a storm drain yesterday. I know I feel uneasy when I don't have my phone with me, or back when my one phone died, even though I managed to live nearly 33 years without a cell phone and I know it's rather irrational to worry or feel bereft.

Rise in nomophobia: fear of being without a phone

'Nomophobia', by the way, unlike true phobias, doesn't have a nifty Greek name. The 'nomo' comes from 'no mobile'. Harumph.

Anyway, I hope my friend manages to get another phone soon. He's the only real person who texts me. [Most others are from T-Mobile or the Weather Channel]. :)

I seem to be the only one in my apartment complex who's up

Good morning. Well, I got up at 5:30 rather than 5, so that's cutting it close, but I decided to go ahead and do the blacks and the whites in my laundry, for three loads total. (2 1/2 really--I have very few whites).

Because I didn't have my Lantus night before last, my blood sugar was bad all through the day. But at night, five or more hours after I ate, it was 402 right before I went to bed. which I can handle because I'm used to being somewhat high, but that's even bad for me. It's 308 now, still terribly high, but better than it was. I still feel a bit groggy and I've drunk loads of water and diet soda [although mostly water] over the last 24 hours, I've been so thirsty. I've taken my Novolog and am eating a light breakfast (just some crackers), so hopefully it will go down more and I can get back on track. As busy as the weekend was, I wasn't very good at keeping my blood sugar down, not so much in what I ate but remembering to take enough insulin. So it's still up from that as well. It's a little hard to find a happy medium between eating and medicine sometimes. I still struggle with that, even though I've been on insulin for a year. I see the doctor on Monday. I really think that going back on metformin would help me. I suggested it last time, but one of the other medicines could counteract some high glucose levels, so he wanted to give that a chance first. I don't think it's helping in that regard. I'm on another medicine I've been on for years that raises blood sugar, but it's done so well in its main use that he decided not to take me off of it.

Now that I'm doing referrals at work in addition to my data entry and the library, my days are really flying by. I'm very busy at work, and I think I'm starting to get into more of a normal schedule. Granted I went to bed at 10 pm last night, but that's better than the 8-9 range, and I did that knowing I'd be getting up early. I got a lot done last night and hope to spend a couple of hours a night doing that sort of thing; tonight I think I'll tackle the kitchen, then tomorrow the bath. It's so nice to get home while it's still light, and next week there will be even more thanks to daylight savings time.

I just took a break from this to go put my clothes in the dryer. It's going to be very close in terms of time before I have to go to work. The whites will dry quickly; they were a small load, but the blacks are heavier and full ones. People are starting to stir, and a couple were out the door and ready to face their day. The birds are singing and the sun's glow is peeking up in the east. We're supposed to have a wonderful day weather-wise, in the 60s and just a bit windy, but sunny. Tomorrow I think the rain comes back. I just hope there's no severe weather.

I'm going to try to do some more cataloguing today. I haven't in a couple of weeks because I've been busy with other things. I also need to distribute a needs assessment to the various departments. And there's some interlibrary loans I'm waiting on.

I think for now, I'll go ahead and take a shower and get ready so that when I pull the clothes out, I can just take them back to the apartment, change and go. Hope you have a wonderful day.

I've been a busy bee

I went into work a little early this morning because I thought I'd have to go across town to the pharmacy today to get my insulin, but it turns out the person I know there was able to bring it by this evening, along with everything else, which is really good, because I have uncharacteristically lost one of my meds, maybe a day or two ago, and didn't realise it, and it's the one that if you go off it and then back, your skin could possibly slough off. So I was glad to see that, and my Lantus, too.

Because I was looking for a misplaced roll of quarters and said medicine, I spent a couple of hours working on the house. Along with straightening things up and managing to throw away a bag of stuff, I sorted all the laundry. At least I found the quarters in the recesses of my bag. No such luck with the medicine, but I have more now. The plan is to get up at 5 am and do said laundry, because there are several loads and I think it's going to take up quite a few of the washers, and hopefully no one else will be doing it then. If not, then I'll reduce the loads I do and at least get a couple in. But I'd rather do it all at once. That's the good thing about having a laundry room at your disposal rather than just a washer and dryer. While I'm at it I'll take out the recyclables, etc. Among other the things I think I'll need the hamper.

I also watched Monty Python's Life of Brian, which I have out from the library. It was fun to see again. I really miss Graham Chapman; he was always my favourite of the troupe.

Well, now I have my meds. I'm going to read for awhile so my insulin can get to room temperature before I take it, then head on to bed. I'm still working my way through Turn Coat and only have two more days on the loan. Good night.

Winter's last hurrah?

So on Friday, while we were all hoping that we wouldn't be blown away by the storms, it was in the 70s temperature-wise. It has snowed very little this winter, maybe a half-inch to an inch a couple times, three inches maybe once. So after the tumultuous warm weather, what do you expect if you live in Kentucky?

SNOW! Yep, because we have our share of odd weather. And it apparently snowed something like six inches (I'm not sure what the official count was, but a co-worker told me that's what she saw on the news, and it jives with my experience.)

I took this picture of our courtyard at work, which shows the snow we received. The neighbourhood kids came out in droves with sleds and snowboards to play on our hills; we watched them out of the dining room window, and they were still going when I was down at the bus stop. I wonder what will happen when the hospital moves, if they'll still be allowed to do that? There were plenty of dogs out, too. I remember how much my dog Cerys loved to plough through the snow. :) I wonder what the puppy thought of it. :)

Anyway, it's supposed to warm up again this week, so this stuff will all go away soon. But it was nearly the perfect snow--heavy, wet, perfect for snowballs and snowmen, not terribly slick on the roads, and just enough of it to enjoy it and no more. So thanks, Mother Nature, we had a good snow, finally, and now can we move on to spring (but without any more tornadoes, please?)