Spence Field Shelter

Spence Field Shelter
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

This is one of the nicely refurbished shelters on the trail. They used to be more cramped, with chain link fences stretched across the open side, the idea being that this would keep bears out. As hikers were expected to cook their food behind the chain link fence, hang their food bags from the roof behind the fence, and keep all their intoxicatingly smelly gear behind the fence, where do you think the bears wanted to be?

A hiker we met at this shelter told a bear story about this very shelter. He and his wife were eating behind the fence when a bear came up. "Oh, how cute!" They said, taking its picture as it paced back and forth in front of the fence. They stopped saying that when it hooked a claw under the gate and opened it as if it were a welcoming door. It came in, grabbed a backpack and dragged it out, where it proceeded to maul it in search of food. When it found nothing, it returned and took the food they were eating.

Maybe you're asking why we stay in shelters, knowing that 400 pound+ creatures are roaming nearby. Our reasons are this: bears are interested in food. They have no interest in altercations with humans. We hang our food a good ways from the shelter, and cook all our food outside the shelter so that there is no inviting scent associated with the shelter, calling out to bears: "Free dinner! Here!"

We are 1 million more times likely to be assaulted by mice than bears.

Welcome sight at the end of the day

Welcome sight at the end of the day
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

The simple things in life really stand out when you go hiking. Nothing warms the heart and lightens the load like seeing shelter just ahead after a long day's hike.

An adventure for the day

Sunrise from Icewater Springs Shelter
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

I have a little adventure to relate, from our time in the Smokies in October. On our last morning there, at Icewater Springs Shelter, I had to use the privy (shortly after Jon took the picture above).

Obviously, the privy is a little ways from the shelter: through the grass, down a couple rock steps and over a log. And it was dark. So I'm inside the privy, steeling myself up to bare my skin to the bitter cold (we woke up to frost), when I hear a deep "Hwoof!"

As this is not the typical sound of wind or birds (which weren't even out), I paused, a little perplexed. Again, "hwoof!"

And again (imagine the sound a large dog makes).

When that connection was made, the next logical step sent the adrenaline pumping through my limbs: what if this is a bear?...And why am I still out here, vulnerably situated in a giant box?

I hightailed it out of there, every step agonizingly slow, acutely aware of the wind nipping the back of my neck.

Later that day, I mentioned this to Jon. He slowly turned his head to look at me, eyes solemn,"That's the sound a bear makes when he is making his presence known."

What this blog says about me

There's several ways to analyze your blog or website to see what it says about you.

Typeanalyzer uses the Myers-Briggs method to determine what part of your brain you use the most while writing.

Genderanalyzer uses artificial intelligence to determine what sex you write like.

Blog Readability Test determines what grade level your blog is written at.

What is Your Blog Worth determines the profitability level of your blog based on Technorati ratings and advertising potential.

According to Typeanalyzer, I am an ISTP (Mechanic). This means that I "enjoy adventure and risk such as driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters." Let us pause a moment and ponder how true this is.

Genderanalyzer tells me that I write like a man.

The Blog Readability Test has decided that I write at the college/postgrad level.

The worth of my blog is around $565.

Thanks to LibraryBytes for this.

An idea for change

In light of some people's despair (which I do not share) over Obama becoming president, thinking this will usher in a godless age (isn't this what some group of people or other think about every new president or ruler?), they would do well to consider Cal Thomas's article Religious Right R.I.P. He suggests that instead of trying to wield "political power for influence" (which hasn't really amounted to much in the past 30 years), evangelicals should instead focus their energy on following the example of Jesus (It always astonishes me how this is an old idea that is always new): living the life they would like to see everyone else live.

A quote: "Too many conservative Evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture. The futility inherent in such misplaced faith can be demonstrated by asking these activists a simple question: Does the secular left, when it holds power, persuade conservatives to live by their standards? Of course they do not. Why, then, would conservative Evangelicals expect people who do not share their worldview and view of God to accept their beliefs when they control government?"

Preparations

Before

After

This was about four days worth of food, pots, sleeping bags, clothes to sleep in, sleeping pads, and other what-nots: a house on your back, so to speak. Jon's pack weighed almost 30 pounds.

We should have put the cat in there for scale.

Obama smiling at the cheers

Obama smiling at the cheers
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

Jon and I ended up at the Obama rally in Cincinnati, OH on Sunday through random chance. We were in town visiting the animals at the zoo. After oohing over the big cats, we decided to scope out the McMillian Street neighborhood for food and we saw a flyer for the rally while walking past a coffeehouse. We figured it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially if he was going to be president.

This was my first rally, and I think it will be my last. 95% waiting, and 5% trying to see and hear the man over and around the noise and frantically waving signs.

Obama could say "The" and everyone would start screaming. But it was worth it.

There are more pictures over at flickr.

The things they write about

One of the reasons why I love ordering books for the library: I can subject people to intriguing reads like this book: The Big Necessity : the unmentionable world of human waste, and why it matters.

Not your typical Danielle Steele.

Vote on November 4th

Here's an interesting blog post about voting: My Personal 'Faith Priorities' for this Election, by Jim Wallis.

Instead of voting based on whether Obama is black, or Palin sounds dumb, or McCain looks old, we need to really think about what we expect from the next administration, and vote accordingly.

To learn more about Barack Obama, go to his website.

To learn more about John McCain, go to his website.

Those wanting to know the truth behind all the ads and claims that the candidates make should go to FactCheck which is a site that works to be a "nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics...[and] monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."

Head over to google's 2008 US Voter Info website if you're not sure exactly where you need to go to vote.

A treatise on the curious nature of learned astronomers and other such esteemed gentlemen and the writings they espouse

We have access to a journal published in 1665. Philosophical Transactions is a lot of fun to browse, as the article titles are elaborately wordy and the articles themselves an intriguing read, not to mention the fact that you're looking at a digital replica of typeface from the late 17th century.

To give you an idea of what's in there, you can look at the article published by Edmund Halley in 1705 describing the comet that was named after him: "Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis." You can't read it unless you know Latin, but, hey!, it's pretty darn cool.

Some other titles in there:

• "The Description of a Monstrous Child, Born Friday the 29th. of February 1684. at a Village Called Heisagger, Distant about 4 English Miles from Hattersleben, a Town in South- Jutland, under the King of Denmark's Dominion, Communicated by Mr. Christopher Krahe, a Member of the Ecclesiastical Consistory and Provost of all the Churches Belonging to the Said Diocess"

• "Two Letters Formerly Written to Mr. H. O, by Dr. M.L. Ist. concerning Some Very Aged Persons in the North of England. 2d. about the Projection of the Threads of Spiders, of Bees Breeding in Cases Made of Leaves, of a Viviparous Fly, and of Great Numbers of Maggots Observed at the Time of the Plague, A. D. 1666"

• "Of a Place in England, Where, without Petrifying Water, Wood is Turned into Stone"

What's wrong with you, Indy?

I'm disappointed in the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The older movies had a sense of weight, tangible in the sense of the journey that Indy undertook in each of them, and we went along for the ride. The series was full of action/adventure drama and mystical overtones owing to the various searches for long lost artifacts, but I think it endures because it speaks to the curiosity in all of us, the need to know about something Other (whatever your religion, or lack thereof). Another reason for the popularity of the movies is the sense that we could do what Indy does, that the adventures he embarks on could possibly happen in real life.

This movie is just another action/adventure flick full of ridiculous fight scenes that could not logically happen in real life, and the search for the crystal skull is full of mumbo-jumbo that makes no sense to anyone who hasn't looked into the eyes of the crystal skull and communed with the extraterrestrial being within. Sure, we're all curious to know how ancient people could have achieved what they did without modern technology, but the movie's vague answer, that "Knowledge," granted from the aliens, is the reason (with no further elaboration, other than a character saying "They have gone into the space between spaces."), coupled with the focus on flashy special effects rather than a journey that Indy embarks on, makes for an overall silly movie that should never have stooped so low.

An interesting review over at Books & Culture: Indiana Jones and the Deadly Blather

Be careful what you wish for

I came across this title at work: American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb.

This reminded me of how sometimes I would think about what it would be like to live "back then," such as in Jane Austen's time. Then I would wonder what it would really be like if I was transported warts, hearing impairment and all, into the Regency era. I suppose, considering the fact that I've been hard of hearing (to the point that I am more likely to feel thunder, not hear it) since I was little, I would be considered dumb, especially if I did not have someone like Anne Sullivan to work with me. It's a sobering realization, especially just for daydreaming--I shouldn't be so literal in my imagination.

By the way, the title was changed to American Annals of the Deaf in 1886.

I'm cold

Deep autumn is here. The air is snappy and biting, no longer lazy with heat. This means sweaters and blankets, thick socks and soft scarves.

It also means that "cold as death" is around the corner. I use this term for that cold that gets into your bones, that you can't seem to shake unless you are standing in front of a bonfire. It's not necessarily limited to the dark winter months of the far north, where the wind howls for miles over the plains.

I freely admit that it's entirely subjective (to me). Jon finds this hilarious, he who can go outside in 50 degree weather with nothing on but a shirt and pants and be "on the cool side of comfortable".

I write this we're entering an uncertain period at the office--the span of time between when it first gets cold outside and when they turn the heat on inside--and it's "cold as death" in here.

How many more books can there be?

LibraryThing now has more books cataloged than does the Library of Congress. While this is not a count of unique titles (Library of Congress still reigns supreme), this is still pretty impressive for a free social networking site.

Laura's short hair

Laura's short hair
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

Here's me and my hair.

We got a new camera, and have been playing around with it: me by taking way too many pictures of Pope, and Jon by actually tinkering with the bazillion buttons and controls that come with it.

One more thing

I forgot to add:

• the abyss of hunger that sets in after the first two days on the trail, when eating a full-fledged meal is like tossing a pebble into a dry well

A list for hiking

Lest one think that I am somehow immune to the discomforts of hiking, I freely admit:

• I don't like the grime that accumulates on my skin (especially in the recesses of my ears)
• the sleeping pads we use are poor substitutes for a proper bed
• how much I envy men the ability to go to the bathroom without having to remove an article of clothing
• I despair at the sight of yet one more steep climb to make before reaching the day's end
• the first couple of days, my legs are as stiff and creaky as an arthritic, stoop-backed old man
• going downhill is worse than going uphill (seriously)

I do not list the rich aroma that hikers develop after days on the trail, simply because we do not notice it while we are in the backcountry.

Best things in life are free

Having a laptop and free wi-fi is awesome. Case in point:

Last week, I hung out in Jon's truck in the parking lot at Asbury College while he went to class for a couple hours. There was wi-fi in the area, so I was able to knock out an hour of work for my job while keeping the cat company in the truck. (Yes, the cat was in there with me, curled up on the driver's seat). When work was done, I watched youtube videos and trailers for various movies while night descended.

Stay tuned for stories and pictures from the Smokies (I have an adventure to relate)

Using our feet

We will be hiking along the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains. We'll start off hiking south from Clingmans Dome, then we'll double back and hike north to Charlies Bunion.

Preparations for the journey

We're getting ready to hike the Smokies later this week. There is a bear sized pile of camping gear in the living room, which Pope investigates cautiously. Sometimes he sets off tiny avalanches of gear and flees wide-eyed, as if the hounds of hell are on his heels.

We have copious amounts of trail mix, which I know I will probably get sick of after the first day--which is strange, as I love nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit.

Hair

I cut my hair.

It's quite short.

My hair is so thick, my head feels weightless without that mass to anchor it.

Stranger things in print

You can search Google's news archive for some interesting topics (the timeline can be a little misleading, as it uses dates from within the articles--which may not always be an accurate reflection of the publication date of a particular article):

Try the abominable snowman.

Googol

Google was once named BackRub. See their 10th birthday website.

Search Google in 2001

Our daily adventure

Our cat has learned about the outdoors. He slipped out the door this morning and was investigating the neighbor's porch while we frantically searched. Being me, I was already thinking of squealing tires and a limp form on the road.

He couldn't resist the lure of kitty treats, however.

Jon the craggy man

Jon the craggy man
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

I've got some pictures from our trip to Rhododendron Gap and the Virginia Creeper Trail up over at my flickr.

Cat on a motorcycle

Originally uploaded by dwain

A picture taken by my friend who is in the envious position of being in Greece for a long time.

KLA observations

I went to the Kentucky Library Association annual conference last week in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was for professional development, so just about everything was paid for--a perk that I am still getting used to.

The funny thing was--I didn't get as much out of it as I thought I would. Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking this. My colleagues told me and a fellow newbie to get used to that feeling.

The two sessions I enjoyed (out of a two day event) were "Next generation catalog landscape" and "Copyright in the library: painless solutions for the moderately squeamish." Absolutely fascinating for those of you outside the library world, I know; nonetheless, very enlightening for those of us that need to know.

I felt very much a "Generation-Y" person there, a youngish person in a sea of mostly grey-haired professional folk (I was wearing jeans alongside other folks smartly dressed in blazers and shiny loafers). My library is remarkably forward-thinking, especially as regards technology and the evolving paradigm embodied in "Web 2.0," so it was interesting to encounter folks who were reluctant to acknowledge the place that technology has in libraries, especially as our patron group is shifting as younger generations grow up. I understand this reluctance, even as I am impatient with it.

On the web

I've contributed a page to LibGuides@EKU.

It's the Faculty page under English & Literary Research.

A way to begin the day

This morning, while walking to Magee's, I came across a chipmunk. It was stretched out, tiny and slim, on the sidewalk, as if in sweet repose, were it not for the rosy blush staining the sidewalk beneath its head.

I looked up and saw a large, brilliant white cat with golden eyes staring at me, almost as if in challenge, "What?! What do you expect?"

Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open

I saw this book at Barnes & Noble the other night. The back flap indicates the reasoning behind the title.

"It's 'black belt' in the sense that it is strong, resolute, and to the point, like a roundhouse kick."

This quote sounds like it came from the website Chuck Norris Facts.

Quote for the day

"Democracy requires of its citizens qualities that it cannot provide."--Jürgen Habermas (German philosopher)

More than you wanted to know

For those of you dying to know, my official title is "Electronic Resources Access Librarian." I have business cards, too, if you want one. My supply will probably last until I die.

So what exactly do I do at work?

I tell people who ask that I deal with all the "online stuff," such as

databases

online journals

I also deal with access issues (as my job title suggests), which involves anything from checking links to communicating with publishers and/or our middleman at Ebsco (which handles most of our subscriptions) to updating SFX, our linking system and all other sorts of things.

Are you even more confused? See why I just said "online stuff"?

I also spend some time on the reference desk, am working my way into serving on some committees, and am a liaison to some departments on campus.

Caterpillar

Stuff everywhere

Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum

This kind of stuff fascinates me. It appeals to the pack-rat within, the curiosity-shoppe minded person living in the back, the little kid still enthralled by oddities of nature.

On a similar note, I want to see the places mentioned in this Smithsonian article: Small Wonders: Europe's idiosyncratic house museums yield pleasures beyond their size

A library position opened up in the Field Museum in Chicago...sigh

You really wanted to know

There are few things I keep tally of. One of those is how many years it has been since I've had to throw up.

I had a bout of food poisoning this weekend. We think it was the spoonbread at the Spoonbread Festival in Berea, Kentucky. One hour after eating, I was vomiting in the parking lot, and vomiting on the hour until late that night, with the Discovery Channel to keep me company, long after there was any food left to come out. I lost four pounds.

It's rather amazing how vigorously the body works to defend itself.

Owls in the air

I want to read this book:

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl

Apparently, baby barn owls smell like butterscotch.

When we have our farm, we hope that barn owls will come to roost with us.

Bill Bryson

I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson. His writing style is very laid-back, intelligent without being stuffy, not to mention laugh-out-loud hilarious at times. His writing is witty in a subtle, conversational way, and he has a knack for using words in unexpected ways.

"It shows a balding but not unhandsome man of about forty who sports a trim beard. In his left ear he wears a gold earring. His expression is confident, serenely rakish. This is not a man, you sense, to whom you would lightly entrust a wife or grown daughter."--p. 2 of "Shakespeare: the world as stage"

His book "A Walk in the Woods" is a classic. Some quotes from there:

"I turned to my own bunk and examined it with a kind of appalled fascination. If the mattress stains were anything to go by, a previous user had not so much suffered from incontinence as rejoiced in it."

About a waitress in whom Katz (Bryson’s hiking partner) feels a romantic interest:

"She went off to deal with a distant customer, and Katz watched her go with something like paternal pride. 'She's pretty ugly, isn’t she?' he said with a big, incongruous beam.
I sought for tact. 'Well, only compared with other women.'"

Oh, to be young again

Mom poses as her daughter to become a cheerleader

??

Once upon a winter's morn

Jon is trying to convince me to accompany him on more winter hiking trips.

It's quite easy to want to agree, while one is wrapped tight in humidity, wearing short sleeved shirts and sandals in response to glaring heat--when cold weather is easily relegated to distant memories and vague associations.

Then I remember one of my very first nights out on a cold winter's night--how it seemed the stars must shatter on such brittle air, how a breeze felt like razors scraping my pink, raw cheeks, how strange it was that I felt warmer outside the sleeping bag than in it.

But that was back when I was inexperienced, before I realized that bodily discomfort and the nearness of death don't necessarily come hand in hand. Each time we go out, the more accustomed I get to the things nature throws our way, to the point that I treasure a blurry picture Jon took of the two of us laughing in a spate of icy rain that blew parallel to the ground.

Such moments make the simple pleasures of being dry, cocooned in warmth, with a mug of piping hot chicken noodle soup all the more treasured--you no longer take them for granted.

I know that place!

There's a new cool feature over at Google Maps. They now have a "Street View" option that lets you actually see the location you are pinpointing on the map. It's a strange feature that lets you "walk" along a street, looking at the houses along the way.

I looked at my parents' house in Rockford, and, lo and behold, there was my dad's truck parked out front. You can also look "up" at the sky and treetops while in the "Street View" option (you have to play around with the buttons a little to get a handle on it).

It's necessary

I'm doing some mandatory online workshops on "Office Safety." A sample question, and its possible answers:

The better your _______, the better prepared you are to handle stress factors.

a. psychic abilities
b. SAT scores
c. physical condition
d. golf handicap

The dilemma

"Only librarians like to search; everyone else likes to find."--Roy Tennant

Movies on the menu today

I've seen two rather dark movies lately that were excellent. One is No Country for Old Men, the other is Eastern Promises.

I went for a long time without seeing No Country for Old Men--it just didn't seem my cup of tea, in spite of the rave reviews it garnered everywhere. Then a good friend of mine from the old library told me to see it, so I did, and was blown away. I have no intention of watching it again--it's not Pride & Prejudice--but it sticks with me still. In the midst of its bleak imagery (the amoral hitman appears to get away, leaving a rampage of blood behind), the good characters shine brightly all the more.

Two things stick with me from that movie: the wife of the dumb and careless ranch-hand. When the hitman shows up in her home near the end of the movie, she refuses to submit to his power, thereby breaking the cycle of violence that he thrives on. The other thing is the sheriff's story of a dream he had, of his father riding ahead of him into the darkness, and how he knew that there would be a fire waiting for him, a lone point of warmth and light in the middle of a dark wilderness.

Eastern Promises is strange. A rather bleak tale of a midwife who comes against the powerful Russian mafia in London, the movie manages to make her small victory quite feasible, in the face of such mindless eye-for-an-eye violence.

People grow up

I went home for a spell--what better way to spend the break between my old and new jobs? Not much happened while I was North, which is the way I intended. I spent lots of time at the house, scrapbooking and reading and pestering the new cat and watching cable (I got addicted to these shows: "It's me or the dog," "Jon and Kate plus eight," and "What not to wear"--I know, I'm pathetic).

In addition to spending time with the folks I love--my parents, Grandma, my dear cousin Rosie with whom I grew up (I treasure a photograph of all us baby cousins piled on the floor, where Rosie is staring, open-mouthed, at something off camera, and I am transfixed by her open mouth, reaching my pudgy fingers out, determined to have a look-see), I ran into some old friends from the high school years: Keelan McMorrow and Salem Barker.

I am blown away by how they turned out, maturing into full-fledged artists with art shows in the Chicago area. When we were all younger, I would never have seen them turning out this way; yet, looking back with hindsight, I can see clues scattered along the years that point to their unfolding as artists.

Keelan McMorrow does paintings:



Salem Barker does wood sculpture:

A new beginning, and wi-fi

I'm a couple days into my new job. My brain feels like a box of puzzle pieces, with some pieces missing.

One perk of this job is the laptop, which has wireless. Because of this, I found out that there is a wireless signal in the area called "bigdaddy."

Fit or not

Today, someone called Jon "disgustingly fit."

He had ducked into a Starbucks to fill up on water and overheard this comment (which the person obviously intended to be overheard).

My, my how can I forget you?

Mom and I went to see Mamma Mia!

We enjoyed it very much. I think most of the movie's charm came from the location (some gorgeous Mediterranean island) and Meryl Streep. Of course, you can't forget Colin Firth, who will never be able to completely shed his Mr. Darcy stigma.

If only our lives were filled with song and dance numbers...

I mentioned this to Jon. He said nothing, which says a lot.

The name's Bond

After two years of pestering, I finally got Mom and Dad to get a cat. He's a slim, debonair looking little fellow, in his tuxedo coloring, mostly black with a white underbelly. His official name is James Bond, but we call him Jimmie. Though I sometimes call him Hitler because of the white moustache he has.

Art in the park

We walked around the Woodland Arts Fair yesterday, basking in the variety of arts and the even more diverse population of fair-goers.

Some artists that I liked:

--Kent Ambler (I particularly liked his woodcuts)

--Mary Lou Hess (Her art has a dreamlike quality)

--Angela Bond (I especially liked her "Sinuous Kitty," under the 'Cats' link)

--Mark Traughber (I love his technical expertise)

Oh the absurdity of it all

Jon decided he didn't have enough marks on his face, so he went and plowed into the back of a minivan on his bike.

He was at an intersection and when the light turned green, the minivan started moving, and Jon started pedalling, looking over his shoulder to see if a car was coming up. He didn't know the minivan had stopped while he was doing this, so when he turned his head back, there was the wall of minivan in front of him, and he had no chance to brake appropriately. First the bike, then his head, slammed into the back window.

Helmets are supposed to protect your head, but it turns out that the force of impact made the helmet-strap cut into the bottom of his chin. He wound up needing six stitches.

He didn't even realize he had a gaping wound on the bottom of his chin. He was telling me about the unfortunate event, saying, "No, no, I'm fine, I'm not hurt," then he moved the paper towel at his chin and revealed the brilliant red wound, skin hanging down like the beginnings of age, and I said, "No, I think you need stitches."

I started laughing at this point. He said, "Oh, don't cry!" To which I snickered, "I'm LAUGHING at you!" Because that's what I do when I'm under any kind of stress--it just bubbles out in laughter: oh the absurdity of it all!

For those of you who don't know, this is the third wreck Jon has been in that has required stitches (and sometimes more). He has scars on his eyebrow, the top of his chin, and matching slashes on both of his cheekbones (from two separate accidents) so that he looks like he is a gang member. Now we can add the bottom of his chin to this list. I told him he needs to get scars on his nose and lips so that he has all the major parts of his face covered. Now do you understand why I started laughing?

So we ended up spending over six hours Friday night in various waiting rooms, trying to find someone who could stitch him up.

Is there someone out there that could patent bubble wrap for cyclists' faces?

Man and the machine

I feel like a cyborg with this new hearing aid.

All these controls and buttons, such a finely attuned machine that works to convert the chaos of noise into a comprehensible string of sound, and it still doesn't compare to a normal person's hearing, even though it's improving things on my end.

It's better than my old hearing aid, especially in picking out the nuggets of voices out of the vast turmoil of noise (I was so surprised that I could actually hear a patron over the screeches and whirrings coming from the construction of the new library wing, that I forgot to listen to what she was saying).

I'm still adjusting, but it's been good so far.

Moving on

I got a job at a university library, where I worked as an intern. We are absolutely thrilled, and I am looking forward to the challenge of working with "online stuff", as well as working with a cool bunch of people.

On the downside, this means I have to leave my current public library job (obviously).

What I will miss:
--Updates on the price of milk and orange juice from a certain curmudgeon lady patron
--Children so antsy for the books they are checking out, no sooner do they lay them on the counter, they snatch them away again, before I can check them out
--Showing folks how to use a mouse
--Books
--Learning some odd tidbit of local history
--Calming a nervous patron down as we work through the process of figuring out some medical terminology for a scary disease
--Books
--Working with a crazy, lovable group of folks
--Seeing shy teenagers peruse the stacks and come out with a towering stack of books to read
--Books

It's a zoo in here

Salato Wildlife Center is a very pleasant surprise.

--You get to watch two bald eagles sit on their perches, no more than ten feet away.
(What we saw: 1 of them calling out in a weird guttural, trilling voice, perhaps in greeting to us? The other one coughing up something--the motions very similar to a cat)
--You get to watch two black bears lolling around in their lazy glory, grown rather fat (they reminded us of the people from Wall-e)
--You get to see two very shy bobcats (they act like cats, whadya know!)
--If you get there at the right time, you get to see the rat snakes being fed (Jon and I knew it was time to get to their enclosure when all the kids started shrieking)
--You get to see an alligator snapping turtle up close (like the ostrich hiding its head in the sand, the turtle seems to think it disappears when it sticks its head behind a branch, never mind the monstrously sized body that takes up most of the tank)

I'm a sucker for animals. Those bald eagles captured my heart.

Society news

"Little Otis Pace is in shool again after having been ill for some time." W. Sun, March 5, 1905

(You never know what you'll come across while looking at old newspapers.)

We are always dancing

Even though I am a thoroughly clumsy dancer (at those rare moments I compelled to dance--and even then, I am not as bad as Jon), my outer ear cells are skilled at dancing. Scientists cannot come up with a better term for describing how the cells of our outer ear propel and amplify sound before it enters the innermost parts of our ears. They dance to coax the sound waves to expand as they transform into electrical signals, so that when the brain is ready to translate what it receives, it has the best copy available, so to speak.

Thanks to D. for bringing this to my attention.

Great whites in TV

Last week was sharkweek on the Discovery Channel.

Since I am an animal lover, I think even sharks are beautiful. But I'm still afraid of them. Especially the great white. So much so, that when there were shots in open water (without the barrier of a shark cage) of the great white passing by, my stomach was tight with fear. To give you an idea of how much this fear has always troubled me, when I was a child, I used to be afraid of great whites in Lake Ripley in Wisconsin. Illogical as this seems, it goes to illustrate the point that fear is beyond rational thought.

The funny thing is, I'm not afraid of swimming in the ocean. At least there, I can handle my fear. Watching a great white approach on camera, unable to do anything about it, limited to the scope of the camera, my imagination runs wild. What if...What if...?

This is why I do not watch scary movies.

To dethrone google

There's a new search engine out. Cuil

What I like:
-the layout of the search results page is interesting: a three column spread with pictures next to many of the results, with a suggestions box that gives you ideas on how to tweak your results further.

What I don't like:
--The search algorithm (like the millions of pigeons clicking on keyboards over at google) needs to be worked on. Some searches turned up interesting results, others fell down the rabbit hold. For instance, a search on "christian classics" (I was thinking of the "Christian Classics Ethereal Library) brings up a long list of various university database pages that include links to the CCEL, in addition to the homepage of CCEL. While the fact that a search engine appears to be searching university library pages, and putting those near the top of results, is interesting--does it need to list every university library out there that has this one resource listed on its website? Compare this to google, which has hits beyond just those relating to the CCEL.

--Where are the pictures coming from? Some of the pictures appear to have been plucked randomly from the sea of the internet, not from the website they're supposed to represent.

--The brief paragraphs accompanying each hit make no sense--they're just strings of words that don't necessarily have anything to do with each other.

They have a long way to go before they can dethrone google.

Waiting time

One day at work, the big guy was helping a patron with his studies. Fannie came in and took a seat at the reference desk. She waited twenty seconds, then said very loudly, "Well! I can't wait!"

He just ignored her.

Roan Mountain

I've added pictures from our trip to Roan Mountain in 2007 to my flickr account. Also note my new flickr badge to the right. Hopefully, I'll be adding more pictures to flickr so that people can view them wherever they are.

I wrote about our trip to Roan Mountain in a previous blog post.

Adjustments

I've been wearing my new hearing aid for almost a week now. My audiologist made some adjustments to it this morning, mainly the fix the problem of "squishing."

"Squishing" is when the hearing aid, in an attempt to make what it perceives as loud sounds more comfortable, compresses the sound. Sometimes this works, but in my case, it was making a lot of sounds, mainly people's voices, muffled. So we'll see how it does.

So far, it works for me. I'm still getting used to hearing more 'soft' sounds, like paper crumpling, pens clicking against the table, fingers tapping at the keyboard. At first, they seemed to interfere with people's voices, but when I thought about it, I realized that I could still understand people, my brain just had to adjust to picking their voices out of the sea of sounds.

Hearing is more than just an ear taking in sound waves. There's a lot of brain work involved as those sounds have to be processed, some noises being tossed into the 'white noise' category, other sounds receiving preferential treatment, and still others being completely ignored so that my conscious part no longer notices them. We all do this naturally, but when there's an adjustment process, it can be a little perplexing.

Read

"Over the course of four years I made time to read all of the Harry Potter books out loud to my daughters. If I can do that and run for president, then you can find time to read to your kids."--Barack Obama

Olde Worlde shot-Jon & Laura

Olde Worlde shot-Jon & Laura
Originally uploaded by ozimanndias8

I've put some wedding photos up over on flickr. This is my favorite. See the others here

The place of remembering

The library is always in an interesting place. It must be forward thinking, even as it must preserve the past, keeping it present for the next generation. This is a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it.

I realized this while listening to A. telling Tamera about the move to make Holocaust-denial illegal. It's hard to imagine that people would refuse to admit the Holocaust, but the more years that separate us from that cruel event, the more distant it becomes, relegated to books, photographs, documents, for more and more survivors are passing away, their memories locked away beyond death.

Yet those materials, however pale in comparison to the memories of survivors, are taking the place of those memories, taking over the task of remembering. And where are these materials of remembering usually housed? At libraries (and archives, museums, personal collections), so one sees the unique role libraries have in society. I never thought about how critical that role was until I heard the story of Holocaust-denial.

A new order

I've had my new hearing aid for about 3 hours so far.

Some good things:
-I can hear
-There appears to be better distinction between types of sounds, but I have yet to distinguish it (i.e. I have yet to adjust)
-I do not look like this model from the Phonak hearing aid ad



What is different:
-Some things are louder than others, in strange ways: the crumple of paper is much louder than a voice (which my audiologist may adjust if this doesn't go away)

When I walked out of the office and into the main part of the KY Clinic, it felt like I was entering a war zone, where one side had dragons that they were using to great effect: it was that loud! Everyone else was walking along, oblivious to the war they were in the middle of.

When I went into Kroger's, there were the dragons again, along with airplanes taking off: it was that loud! Jon thinks it must be the ventilation system.

Obviously, I have a lot of adjusting to do. I go back for a hearing aid tweak next week. There may be more tweaking to do after that. It will probably take up to half a year to become completely used to this hearing aid. But I'm optimistic for several reasons:
-I can hear
-I can understand Jon
-I can hear Pope's mews

We don't realize how much we rely on simple things until they are threatened.

Connections

I was checking out books for a guy this weekend and realized that the cover of a book looked familiar. It was Rhododendron Gap, of the Grayson Highlands (see my post below).

It gave me an opportunity to wax poetic about the beauties of southwestern Virginia. He looked very impressed, and I was, consequently, very impressed with myself. How much we esteem the opinion of our fellow man...

Talk about being able to recommend a book!

What's in a name

I came across this name while working on a Kentucky DAR scrapbook today:

Beach Jett

How appropriate for summer.

The briefest movie review you'll find here

The Dark Knight is very good. It actually had a theme that it explored, in the midst of superhero chaos.

Heath Ledger made the Joker his own.

Christian Bale is one of my favorite things.

The things we will eat

I went to a writing workshop hosted by Tamera from the library. I felt a little shy in a group of strangers, especially when I saw that Tamera was going to have us read our writings out loud, so my creative bent was hindered by that, but I enjoyed it very much. Tamera is a very good teacher (and writer too!). One of the prompts she used was scents. She handed out little containers of random things that we were to smell, then write down our associations to that particular scent. I got vinegar, which evoked the kitchen. This is what I wrote:

Jon in the kitchen, carefully, methodically dumping these ingredients in, measured by sight, carelessly tossed into the pot, there to simmer the appointed time.
Our life is composed of these moments, these nightly rituals in the kitchen--he concocting his latest culinary miracle while I read in the living room, keeping my clumsy hands far away from the things we will eat. Our cat goes to and fro, drawn by the smells of fish oil, mewing his pathetic cries, tail bushy with anticipation.
I read and wait--the feast is served.

I'm not sure how fish oil showed up, but that's how the power of association works for you: one thing leads to another, and you discover something new.

This exercise reminded me of a post I made on this blog a while back: "The associations we come up with."

A few of my favorite things

Here are some of my favorite things right now:

1. The show "So you think you can dance?"
2. Christian Bale (he has always reminded me of my cousin Brian, my good buddy from the days of growing up, even though they hardly look a thing alike--I think it must be the dark eyes)
3. Almond croissants from Magees
4. The Dark Knight
5. The wall of new books wanting to be processed at the library
6. Ashland Avenue, Lexington, KY (gorgeous old homes)

Rhododendron Gap - Baby Pony and Mama Pony

Rhododendron Gap - Baby Pony and Mama Pony
Originally uploaded by Vicky TGAW

This past weekend, J. and I went to Damascus, Virginia with our friends Jenni and Carson. We rode the Virginia Creeper trail (17 miles, mostly downhill), which I always like because I can ride very fast without the fear of being hit by a car.

We also hiked up to Rhododendron Gap, in the Grayson Highlands. It was too late to see the rhododendron in bloom, but the ponies were out in full force. We saw this mother and baby out and about--note their coloring!

Bollywood animals?

Words fail to describe this.

Another day as always

Fannie called the library and asked for two other people. Since they were not there, I said, "Sorry, you've got me."

"Wellll...that's allright. It's just you know nuthin'."

I did not take offense, as she has been thrilled by my help many times in the past.

All she wanted to do was tell us that she had had a half-hour nap and was going to eat dinner.

Thinking of trees

Alan Jacobs has written an awesome essay : "The life of trees".

Some of the "tree-reveries" I've had:

--Somewhere in Scott County, there is a grove of mature oak trees. I saw it for only a fleeting moment, glimpsed from the car as we rounded a bend. That brief glimpse gave me such a powerful sense of peace that I still remember those trees now. Tall and stately, the oaks set that place apart. One could go there and think.

-Late, late on a summer night long ago, Jenny, Rosie, and I took a walk down the lane. It was the full moon, and vast expanses of clouds were passing overhead. The moon played coy: hiding, then dashing out in a blaze of cold silver light. We walked through that interplay of darkness and light, each of us touched by the moon, our eyes and teeth flashing as we talked, our hair almost glowing, so that we looked like a group of fey wending our way to the dark forest beyond. The fields to either side of us shivered under the wind, the grass transformed to stalks of silver that, together, moved like the ocean, drawn by the moon.

My tree-reverie came during one of the moon's bold moments, when we were passing near a group of trees, a moment I happened to look up and saw the dark outline of those trees against the sky. It should have filled me with dread, to see the inky shapes of branches and leaves, lines of darkness against the riot of silvery clouds moving overhead, and the black space deep among the trees. Instead, I was overwhelmed with calm: there was no other place I would rather be. My petty fears of the dark had disappeared in the face of such a rare show of beauty.

"Hamburger!" she cried

I was helping someone at the reference desk who was asking about researching the history of a property when I heard, "Hamburger!"

I looked up to see Fannie, about 20 feet away, saying again (quite loudly), "Hamburger!"

When she got to the desk, she said, "Don't forget hamburger! ... Hamburger at Kroger's has e. coli--don't you eat it! Don't forget hamburger!"

Then she turned to one of the women I was helping and poked her, "Don't forget about the hamburger at Kroger's!" She walked away muttering to herself, her duty accomplished.

Thankfully there were no small children in her way, otherwise they too would have received a poke.

The pleasures of lists

Because I love lists and books, I can't resist posting a list of some books I'm ordering for the library.

-Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire, by Rita Nakashima Brock

-Original sin: a cultural history, by Alan Jacobs

Finding our way again: the return of the ancient practices, by Brian McLaren

-Berlitz complete guide to cruising & cruise ships

-Berlin Wall: a world divided, 1961-1989, by Frederick Taylor

-God's gold: a quest for the lost temple treasures of Jerusalem, by Sean Kingsley

-Life with God: reading the Bible for spiritual transformation, by Richard J. Foster

-Perfect summer: England 1911, just before the storm, by Juliet Nicolson

-HarperCollins atlas of Bible history

-Complete Travel Detective Bible: The Consummate Insider Tells You What You Need to Know in an Increasingly Complex World!, by Peter Greenberg

-American Resting Place: 400 Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds, by Marilyn Yalom

-Come on shore and we will kill and eat you all: a New Zealand story, by Christina Thompson

-Barbarians to angels: the Dark Ages reconsidered, by Peter S. Wells

-Muhajababes, by Allegra Stratton

-Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid, by J. Maarten Troost

-Mutiny: The True Events That Inspired The Hunt For Red October, by David Hagberg

Libguides at EKU

This is so cool! I wish we had these "LibGuides" when I was still in school, particularly as an undergrad. When I think about how I did research back then (and I'm still not quite sure exactly how I researched things before library school), I cringe.

The folks over at EKU have started making guides to various subjects, ranging from geology to theater to social work to homeland security. Depending on who made the guides, you can find news feeds, databases of interest, tips on how to do effective searches, websites to check out, etc. For an example, see LibGuides@EKU: Geology, created by Cindi Trainor, or LibGuides@EKU: Social Work, done by my former supervisor Kelly Smith.

What was going to be a simple click-through from Trainor's blog turned out to be an in-depth exploration as I mentally filed away tips and ideas for use at the reference desk (while we don't get serious researchers everyday, enough students come in for help to keep me on my toes--particularly as a small public library doesn't exactly have a lot to offer on topics like sociology or small child counseling).

Random things seen

Every time J. and I come home to the in-laws, we see Golf Cart Guy with Two German Shepherds.

He rides around the subdivision in a golf cart with two huge German Shepherds for company. One sits up front, the other sits in the back, tongue lolling as he calmly regards you. Such well-behaved dogs are rare, and in a golf cart no less. (We suspect they are sampling his beer).

I am starting to expect this comical sight when we come down, just as I expect to see Fannie come into the library, wearing those men's clothes from Goodwill, telling us that milk and orange juice are on sale at Kroger.

Insufficient quantities of time

The number of books on my "to-read" list over at goodreads is 136 so far. This number could easily change next week, after I've been in the library. That's what happens when you're surrounded by books everyday.

In one of the classes for Public Libraries, Professor Carrigan remarked on the piles of books waiting for him to read. He figured that, at the rate that he read books, he would have to live at least another 100 years in order to complete his reading list.

Considering how much younger I am (therefore more years of spying many more books here and there), how much longer would I have to live in order to read my accumulated piles of books?

What's a wordle?

I found out about a cool website through Cindi Trainor's blog.

Wordle lets you create tag clouds out of whatever words you want. The results are rather neat and professional looking. You can play around with the layout, font, and colors. While the options are limited (I'm not too happy with the color schemes available), this application lets you feel like a computer pro.

I created a wordle out of Wendell Berry's Country of Marriage. Have a look at it here.

I'd like to create one out of a poem or passage about libraries.

Beauty will save the world

This past Sunday at work, the library director showed me the elecam. It shows what's going on in various parts of an elephant sanctuary down in Tennessee. For a few minutes, we watched an elephant rubbing its rear against a tree, its trunk lazily reaching up to grasp at branches (I was put in mind of Autumn taking her bottle, how she would reach up and touch your hair or pull at her toes, stretching her legs like a yogi). It was strangely relaxing--quite a nice little respite from a busy afternoon.

I've always wanted a house that backs up against a cow pasture (I wouldn't mind a zoo, either, but that would be a little hard to find). Every night I would sit on the back porch with a cup of coffee and watch the cows...doing what cows do. This herd of cows would easily replace the parade of actors and actresses on TV, for their dumb, bovine grace shows me that beauty can be found in the oddest places.

Oh, the horror!

I helped a boy with his homework. He came in asking for stuff on 19th century U.S. history. I asked what it was for, and he showed me the questions he had to answer at the back of a chapter in his textbook.

Everything he needed to answer the questions was there in the chapter--he could have copied his answers verbatim. His problem? He didn't want to read.

I forced him to scan the chapter with me. I even pointed out the sections that contained the answers to some of the questions, and asked him what he thought the answer was, but he still resisted the notion of reading.

It's a good thing I don't work all day with children, because such resistance to reading is foreign to me, and I would become highly impatient.

Twilight fanaticism

A lady called the library one day, her voice a flutter with nervous anticipation: she had to be certain that the sequel to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight was on hold for her.

For those of you unaware of what exactly Twilight is, you've been living under a rock for the past year. I have emerged into the sunlight, and now you will too. Even though I have read the books, I was taken aback by the fervor of the twilighters, as the fans of this series about the love story of a vampire and a human are known. I became acquainted with this fanaticism firsthand when this breathless lady (who was older than me) called the library.

How did a young adult book about vampires and love become so big that grown women sigh over Edward, the vampire equivalent of Romeo? I haven't a clue, seeing as the type of books that deeply affect me are ones like C.S. Lewis' Till we Have Faces.

A room of one's own

I don't know what is more taxing: packing or unpacking.

We're out of the old place and into the new. The bedroom and kitchen are mostly sorted out--those are the important parts to take care of immediately, even if all you do is make the bed and make sure there is milk and cereal available in the midst of piles of boxes.

But there are still boxes. I opened a closet door, thinking it was all set, and found six boxes sitting coyly on the shelves: Remember us?

Check out this living library .

Cats on the belfrey

There is a cat herd here at the in-law's. J.'s sister's 3 cats, our very own Pope, and the in-law's two cats.

Watching them sort out their place on the hierarchy of cats is very interesting. The only real aggression I've seen is between Pope and Toby, one of the mostly-outdoors cats belonging to the in-laws, everything else is just playful altercations.

I think Pope and Bea like each other secretly. It's like middle school, where they tease each other because they're too embarrassed to admit they like each other.

Bea is the strangest cat of the herd. She has to investigate everything--the surface of everything, including the digital TV (she has good balance), the inside of everything, etc. She is quite vocal in her opinions. In front of a door leading outside, "MRow!" If Pope is about to pounce, she flicks her tail and disdainfully says "MRow!" which puts him in his place. If she glimpses a parallel world in the mirror, "MRow!"

Things in the dark

I had a rather interesting experience the night before last. I woke up while I was sleepwalking, in the still unfamiliar territory of the in-laws' basement.

I was not wearing my glasses, and I did not have my hearing aid on. It was very dark, almost pitch black. When I moved my arms around, I couldn't feel anything. As I am almost legally blind without my glasses, deaf without my hearing aid, having all my senses deprived of stimulation was rather terrifying. It felt like I was suspended in a void.

Thankfully, I made it back to bed after shuffling around a little and stumbling across the pet crates, which I knew were at the foot of the bed.

The big guy at work says that I should read Becket's How it is

Aliens among us

The cicadas are out in full force down in Lincoln county. We got to the in-laws in time for the emergence of Brood XIV in their backyard.

I didn't know it was time for cicadas, so when I was walking down by the nearly non-existent creek in the back, I was startled by the sight of countless blank-eyed brown hulls clutching at the undersides of the leaves around me. It was a little frightening at first, when I first registered the existence of those bodiless shells, so numerous the leaves were drooping with their weight, as it seemed the invasion of the body-snatchers was upon us.

Later that night, we went out to the buckeye trees and watched the cicadas rising from the ground and crawling up the trunks to find a spot to molt. There were so many, the surface of the trees rippled like a breeze whispering over a lake.

They seem remarkably dumb, content to crawl along your hand, oblivious to the dangers inherent in being so trusting. I guess that's how it is when you've reached the point of your life where your sole purpose is to carry on your line. Right now the males are singing outside, pining for females. It's the sound of summer--how strange it is that we associate the song of dying insects with the joys of this fleeting season.

Out of the ordinary

We are packing for the move to our new place.

This perplexes Pope. He doesn't know what to do with himself when he walks into a room and some large piece of furniture is missing. His eyes dilate and his ears start swiveling furiously and any little noise sets him off.

I've been seeing more of the bushy-tail Pope--whenever he's frightened, his tail bushes out as he turns so that the full length of his body is facing you while the hair raises on his back, making him look bigger than he is. He also does a strange stiff-legged skip backwards/sideways.

A name you can call your own

Jon's thesis is cataloged now.

Anyone can find the record, not only in UK's catalog, but also on Worldcat (see the link in the right-hand column). His name has an authority record now, which means that no other catalog record can have his name assigned to it unless he actually created the thing that is being cataloged.

Wow, that's lovely and amazing, and I'm sure this post reveals what a library geek I am.

Everything has its proper place

I came across a travel book on Spain that was classed in 919.604.

According to that number, Spain is located in the Pacific Ocean, near Australia and New Zealand.

It put me in mind of a scene from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell where Strange is helping the British army in the Napoleonic War. They are about to be surrounded by the enemy, so the general cries out to Strange to do something, anything. Strange casts a spell that physically moves the land the British army is on to some place in America, where they wait a little while before Strange casts a spell to move them back.

I reclassed the book to its proper place, 914.604, and had this brief, amusing image, of Spain being wrested from the Pacific and planted back in its proper place.

Get the wiggles out

This is the kind of hearing aid I once wore a long time ago (at school):


No, we did not dance around in our underwear. These children are reacting to rhythms they feel in the floor. I tried to find a better picture of body-worn hearing aids, but this is the only one that came up.

And now, hearing aids have to be cool. I find the idea of marketing hearing aids as "sexy cool" rather strange, as they are such a necessary part of my life, almost on the same level as bread and water. Are canes and walkers ever advertised this way? (Note that the models are not actually wearing the hearing aids).

Everything's changing

I've made an appointment to see about getting a new hearing aid. Exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

Nerve-wracking because I'm accustomed to my current prop and leery of the adjustment period the new machine will require. My brain will have to retrain itself on the new sounds coming in, so similar and yet not to what I once heard. I don't enjoy change.

The memory of my initial acquaintance with my current hearing aid is still fresh--how I hated that thing! Everything seemed so soft and muted. When the audiologist said that this is actually quite similar to how normal people hear, that everything isn't so magnified (who pays attention to the ruffle of papers on the desk, or the quiet rumble of the dishwasher, anyways?), I couldn't believe that normal hearing could be so frustratingly boring.

The wow factor of the hearing aid lay not in its amplification power, but in its ability to tease out the various frequencies of sound, to suppress background noise and bring human voices to the fore. It took me a long time to appreciate that kind of technology.

Daydreaming a book

When my brain started going cross-eyed at the reference desk last week, I allowed myself to daydream a little, to work the snarls out of my thoughts before they turned into a gordian knot and I would end up staring dumbly at patrons asking questions such as: "Do you have any books on cats?"

This is what I did: imagined who would play who in a movie adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke's doorstopper of a book on an alternative history of England in which magic returns in the nineteenth century (think Tolkien meets Austen).

Jonathan Strange, young, impetuous magician -- Christian Bale


Mr Norrell, stodgy magician -- Ian Holm


Gentleman with the thistledown hair, fairy king of Lost Hope -- David Bowie


Arabella Strange, patient wife -- Kate Winslet


Lady Emma Pole, condemned to live half her life (she spends her days in England, her evenings in Faerie) at Lost Hope after Mr Norrell bargains with the Gentleman with the thistledown hair to bring her back to life -- Keira Knightley


John Uskglass, The Raven King, the mysterious father of magic in England -- Johnny Depp


One of the fae, a faerie we meet in Lost Hope whose dress is made up of beetles -- Nicole Kidman

Achoo

I suffer from a photic sneeze reflex. Apparently, I'm part of a minority.

Exercise hurts

If you want to torture someone, and they have never done an exercise like this before, make them do decline situps.

Then force them to do it again two days later.

The first time is incredibly difficult. The second time will leave you weeping like a baby. You are using muscles you hardly ever call upon, and they will protest in a painful way (think knives scoring your sides).

This is the ugly truth of exercise. The second time is the worst.

Thankfully it always gets better.

Muscles and looks

I conquered my fear of the free weight room at the Y. That bastion of testosterone, realm of muscled men, was no match for me as I marched in with what feminine pride I had, holding my head high in spite of my inability to lift no more than a fraction of what they could benchpress.

They grinned at each other and looked askance at me as I settled in to do sit-ups, and I realized that I was not leery of them so much as I was of being in a strange place and not knowing what to do with myself while those initiated into the mysteries of free weights could plan their workouts with ease.

I finished and, sitting up, noticed that they spent as much time standing in front of the mirror as they did actually working out. I didn't feel so awkward after all--if guys with thick cords of muscle, at the height of their fitness, still need to look in the mirror and reassure themselves of their appearance, then there's hope for the rest of us.

State dance

"Clogging is named and designated as the official dance of Kentucky." --KRS 2.101

Cultural literacy at its lowest

An exchange Jon had with one of his students:

student: "So how come they have different laws in Holland?"

Jon: "Holland's a different country."

student: "Holland's really cool. They can smoke pot and stuff there! I've seen pictures of coffeehouses that have little scales where they weight out the pot."

Jon: "Well, Holland's a different country. They do things differently there."

student: "So Bush isn't in charge over there?"

Jon (trying to keep a straight face): "No, he's isn't. Holland's a different country. They have their own laws and people in charge."

student: "So you mean Bush isn't in control outside the United States?"

Jon: "No..he isn't."

Words

I have not met a colporteur lately.

Jezebel was defenestrated.

Abrams Falls

Congratulations to my parents for completing a five mile round-trip hike to Abrams Falls in the Smokies this weekend. They might not think it was worth it at the moment, as their aches and pains are still quite fresh (believe me, I can relate!), but the falls were rather glorious in all their rain-swollen force.