Great sports day here in Cleveland!

The NFL draft, as much as I HATED hearing it dissected endlessly on sports radio here, turned out to be awesome for the Browns! This article sums it up pretty well. And, the Cavs won Game 3 of their playoff series, on their way to their first-ever sweep! (knock on wood) But, don't worry, it wasn't all good - the Indians lost. But that was kind of an odd game.

LOC blog

Not to be confused with the blog I had when I worked at the Library of Congress two years ago, I now see that the Library has started its own blog. Wow, I'd love that job! And, knowing how the government operates, that probably is ALL that person does!! (via)

"We’re Off to See the Wizards"

Yay! The Cavs won their second playoff game and are now headed to Washington DC to continue the series. I love how that article on the Cavs Web site is more travel brochure than it is sports article.

Cough cough cough cough

If you cough cough cough were cough cough cough cough cough talking cough cough to me cough cough cough cough in cough person cough cough today, this is what cough cough cough cough cough cough cough I cough cough cough would sound cough cough like. Cough cough cough cough cough cough.

"Yankees drop into last in AL East"

Heh. Why does that headline make me laugh so?

Word of the day: prolix

\pro-LIKS; PRO-liks\

adj. 1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; wordy.
2. Tending to speak or write at excessive length.

My sentence using prolix: Sometimes, I write some very prolix blog entries.

Questions for this Monday

Earth Day
1. Do you make an effort to be environmentally friendly? Yep, although I'm sure I could do more.
2. Did you see "An Inconvenient Truth"? Did you find it effective? Yes, I enjoyed it and thought it was very effective. It should be required viewing of everyone around the world, particularly those of us in the U.S.! But, I think there needs to be a whole lot more on solutions or 'What Can I Do?' included in it. It focuses almost entirely on convincing us that there is a problem. After the first hour when you become convinced that there is a problem, I wanted to know what I could do to change things!
3. Would you drive a Smart Car? Like an electric car or a hybrid or one run on some other alternative fuel? Sure, I definitely would, depending on my needs and the accessibility to the fuel. I'd really love a hybrid as my next car. But, according to Wikipedia, a Smart car is just a really tiny automobile and I don't see that it has any great benefit for the environment. In fact, that Wikipedia article says that they don't meet US emission regulations.
4. How many continents have you been on? Just one.
5. Did you ever watch "Captain Planet"? Nope, never heard of it. Based on Wikipedia, I'm a little old for it.

(questions via)

"Cleveland rocks in Game 1"

Judging by the topics on sports radio, few people around here care about basketball but the Cavaliers won their first playofff game against the Washington Wizards, as expected!! Yay!

Bad cold

I spent most of the day in bed today feeling awful. What a wonderful thing to add to my already insanely busy April!! I've been sick now for like four days and each day, it's like I have completely different symptoms so it makes little sense. Today was by far the worst, too. So I couldn't go outside and really enjoy the beautiful weather... but, that's okay. If anything, it made it seem more like a typical finals week of school. The weather is always beautiful at the end of the semester when you need to spend all day inside writing papers or whatever.

Find information about names

I've seen sites like this that calculate name data but this is from WhitePages.com so I guess it's only going by people who have phones in their names! You can type in a first name and find out how popular it is or which state has the most people with that name. For instance, Cheri ranks 1,037 in popularity as a first name. And, the most number of Cheris live in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan & Ohio (hmm...). Kinda interesting! For my last name, Ohio ranks third! (via)

Completed: My last group paper

Since I'm not planning on taking classes again any time in the near future, I can say with some confidence that my last group paper is now finished! Yay! It is actually due right about now but we turned it in awhile ago and I think it went really well; the group seemed to work well together. Who knows what kind of grade we'll get though - my professor grades tough.

With that paper complete, I'm basically finished with that class entirely, although I do still have a short lecture and some short readings to do this week. My other class, though, is a different story. I'm still way way behind.

"Clean Your Dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid"

Interesting cleaning technique from the Real Simple folks. I'll have to remember to try it, if I find my dishwasher full of lime deposits or iron stains. And my new apartment DOES have a dishwasher, which is a step up from my last one! (via)

Assignment extension?

I emailed my one professor last week and asked him if it would be possible to get an extension on our big final project that is due May 1st and he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I am incredibly frustrated by it but it's pretty typical of the professors in my program - teaching seems to be the lowest thing on most of their priority lists. Seriously, I had only a handful of professors in three years of grad school who seemed to enjoy teaching and who seemed to want their students to learn. Those that teach via distance format seem to be by far the worst. So, I'm not sure if my professor is ignoring me or somehow didn't get the email or what? He did respond to another student's question in the meantime so I know he's been online to see it. I guess I have to email him again and risk being a nuisance.

Found a place to live!!

I went to Washington, DC, this past weekend to try to find a place to live (after being extremely stressed out about it all last week) and actually found a place. It's an apartment and I'll have a roommate but she seems pretty cool and I think we'll get along well. After living with my parents, I think any place where I get more independence will be fine. She is also currently moving from a one-bedroom into a two-bedroom so she has some adjustments to make too but it seems like there is enough room for me to bring most of my belongings (even those that do not fit in the bedroom) and all utilties are included, plus there is a washer & dryer on premises, a huge balcony with great views of the city and other extra-curriculars like a pool, tennis court and billiards room. Seriously, I want to learn how to play pool because I SUCK at it. All my friends literally laughed at me every time I tried to play the last two years. Another good thing is that the location is really close to where I lived when I was there two years ago so I know where everything is and like it. It's about a 20-minute drive to work, I'm told, even during rush hour. Since I don't have to take the freeway to get to work, I can't imagine traffic is too unbearably stop-and-go. AND, my new employer pays for parking so that makes driving that much nicer! In sum, it's a HUGE relief to have it taken care of...

"Librarians 'suffer most stress'"

This is what I have to look forward to?

Weekly meme entry

All In The Family

1. Which member of your family do you get along with the best? My mom? I guess so.
2. What aspects of your personality do you think are a direct result of the way you were raised? Umm, all of them? Either I am the way I am because my parents are also that way and I just became what I saw OR I am the way I am because I didn't like the way my parents were and grew up specifically trying to avoid those traits. That pretty much explains my personality!
3. What's the stupidest fight you've ever had with a family member? My brother and I are not even a year apart... we had all kinds of stupid fights the whole time we were growing up! Usually regarding what to play and how to play with it.
4. Who in your family do you look the most like? It used to be my brother, without question. Everyone thought we were twins. Now, I'm not so sure we look as much alike but he still seems like the best choice.
5. Do you relate to the characteristics associated with your place in the birth order? (ie. Only children are regarded as being typically selfish and youngest children are often babied. Check out the Wikipedia article on birth order for further info). No. I definitely was always a little spoiled in terms of getting things from my parents, but I wouldn't say I was "pampered" and my brother is equally spoiled. I do not think I'm an "outgoing charmer" at all. I also don't think I'm "manipulative or control-seeking" either. Maybe I'm "an endearing and delightful friend" but I guess you'd have to ask my friends!

(questions via)

Movie review: School for Scoundrels

I watched School for Scoundrels last night and it was kinda cute. A harmless comedy with a protagonist you want to root for... I hadn't wanted to see it when it was at the theater (I kinda hate Billy Bob Thornton) but the DVD was at the library so I got it. Anyway, what I mostly wanted to say about it is that I watched the alternate ending that is on the DVD and actually liked it better. Usually, when you watch those types of things - alternate endings and deleted scenes - you realize that good choices were made. This was a rare time that I actually preferred the alternate ending.

Also, it was so odd and actually off-putting to me to hear Jacinda Barrett (who plays the love interest) speak in an Australian accent. She was on The Real World:London back in the day and I knew she was Australian but it seems to me every movie she's in nowadays, she plays an American and hides her accent.

Cool site? Midomi

Midomi requires a microphone for its really cool feature, so that eliminates me from being able to use it... however, the idea behind it is great. It lets you sing or hum a few bars of a song you want more information about and then retrieves the song for you! I can think of a zillion times when this might have been useful to me (like when I used to recap American Idol!). I have to wonder how good it really is at recognizing tunes, especially those sung by horrible singers. (via)

Subway to start selling pizzas

Great! Maybe I'll go to Subway more often. I'm not really a big fan of sandwiches but I am a big fan of pizza. Especially at $2.99 a pop. That's a good deal.

Paper done

After all my griping and paper woes, it's officially turned in. On time, too. I think it was actually a really good paper but I don't think it satisfies the assignment specs too well. But, do I care? Not too much. It's not my fault that I could not access the database. Therefore, the paper is a lot more theoretical than I intended. But still good. But probably will get a poor grade. Anyway, it kind of feels like my final assignment for that class, because even though I still have a group paper due in two weeks, I really only have to do a third of that assignment.

I GOT A JOB!!

By the way, I FINALLY got a job. I can't believe it!! It's at a trade association in the Washington, DC, area so it's kind of exactly what I thought I wanted when I started job searching. Except it's a lot more responsibility than I thought I would get with my first librarian job. I even have to manage someone! It's also a lot less librarian duties and a lot more information management duties but I hope, since there is some ability to make the job what I want, that I can infuse more librarian into it with time. The salary rocks too. Now I just have to find a place to live. I start May 2nd.

Charlie, I'm coming to DC!! We'll be able to hang out!

Monday again so time for a meme

Once Upon A Time

1. What are you reading right now? Well, see the righthand side of my blog... but the real truth is, nothing at all save the couple of chapters in various books I have to read each week for class.
2. What is your favorite genre of book to read and why? I don't think I have a favorite. I like romantic comedies, suspense thrillers, biographies, comedy books (like books by comedians), ones with quirky characters and general coming-of-age stories.
3. Do you have a library card? Funny question. Of course I do. Actually, I have five library cards: 3 from Cleveland-area libraries, 1 from the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse and 1 from the New York Public Library.
4. Are there any books that people have recommended to you that you just can't get into? Yes, nothing specific comes to mind but I generally can never get into sci-fi or fantasy books and have often been recommended those.
5. What would you title your memoir? Always Looking for Something Better? How's that?

(questions via)

A lot of bitching about school

So I have a paper due tomorrow. It is supposed to be a comparison of a commercial database as found on two different vendors. So, consider it perhaps like comparing shopping at Best Buy the store compared to BestBuy.com... do they carry the same products? Are the products in the same areas? Are the prices the same? If you look for CDs by Lionel Richie, do you get the same results at the store as you do online? Etc... etc...

Now imagine, if you will, that you had to write this paper except you weren't allowed in the Best Buy store. Oh, you could check the Web site all you wanted but nope, you couldn't go in-store. It would make some actual comparisons pretty difficult, wouldn't it? It's hard to determine if those products are in the same place or if the Lionel Richie CDs are the same if you can't actually look in the store. And this, my friends, is the problem with my paper.

I was assigned a database to investigate (Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstract) and have no problem accessing it the one way. However, the other way, I'm not allowed to access. Seems the student account to this vendor is limited and one of the limits is that students cannot access Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstract. Great. And I discovered this yesterday after I had done every other part of my paper. All that was left was for me to conduct the same searches in this other product and see how my results differed and then draw some conclusions. Except nope. Did I mention that our professor ASSIGNED these databases? So she assigned me a database that was not accessible and then expects me to write a paper explaining how it is different... I'm so annoyed about it all. Then, when she finally got back to me, she made it seem like it was my fault that this database wasn't accessible. Have I mentioned how much I dislike this woman? (Oh right, here and here and here) She basically implied that had I not waited until the last minute to do my homework, the database might have been accessible then. Or that I could have been given another database. Which actually, Saturday afternoon when the paper is due Monday at 11:55pm is NOT the last minute at all!! Especially since I did have a lot of it done already.

So, her solution was to have me search a similar database - one that students can access - in the same product and make my conclusions. In my example, that would be like me going to Circuit City instead to compare it to BestBuy.com. Actually, it would be more like me going to OfficeMax, where some of the items overlap but a lot of them are completely different. It's like comparing apples and oranges, like the saying says. (Maybe I'll use that in my paper!) All the searches I already did that I was going to replicate... useless. It's very frustrating and I've spent a good part of today kind of blocked as to what the hell I'm going to write instead. At LEAST she sent me an extra email and told me not to panic and that she would take it all into consideration with her grading but still... I am panicked and unhappy. The other thing that upsets me is that I was so sure this was going to be an awesome paper. And now I know it's going to suck.

I'm dreaming of a White.... Easter?

So yes, we've been deluged by snow here in Cleveland. It's kind of insane that we have way more snow now than we did at Christmas. The poor Indians have had five baseball games cancelled this weekend, although two of those were makeup games to begin with. Personally, I'm not affected too much since I would be busily in front of the computer working on my paper regardless of the weather, but we did cancel our plans to have Easter brunch with some relatives. My brother got about 18 inches of snow at his house and it was still snowing there, which is where we were going to meet up before heading here for brunch. Instead, I went here with just my parents. The snow finally seems to have stopped here at my house, but I wonder how the other areas of town are doing. We are not in the "Snow Belt".

Anyway, I'm honestly kind of relieved to not go since this paper I have due tomorrow is turning out to be a mess. (see other post today) Thank God she gave us a one-day extension or I would be screwed.

Happy Easter!

Online comedy classes

Comedy Central is offering online stand-up comedy courses! Not that I would ever have the guts to actually get up on a stage and do stand-up, but when I have some free time, I might check out the courses and see what they suggest!

Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker

I used to have a sno-cone machine but since I never really found the need to use it, I sold it in a family garage sale a few years ago. Now, had it been this cute Snoopy doghouse style, maybe I would have kept it! (via)

Oh Now They Do That

The head of the Central New York Library Council advertised a networking opportunity on our Syracuse Library Science Student Listserv, inviting students to participate in an informal gathering to meet practicing librarians in the Central New York area to build relationships, etc... pretty much a good idea for any student in the Library Science program. Something I wish they would have done while I was still a student and still in New York, in fact. As some of you might remember, I had a hell of a time trying to find an off-campus library internship in Syracuse or even getting any librarians to get back to me when I contacted them, so an arranged event like this would have been very useful.

It's on May 23, though. Wouldn't it be better to have it during the actual school year? I know a lot of students who left Syracuse as soon as spring classes ended. Even for some of them who eventually did spend the summer in Syracuse, many went back home for a couple weeks first. Then again, the local students are perhaps more likely to want to actually build relationships with the current working librarians in the area and they'll likely be in town towards the end of May.

Another thing to consider is professional turnout. When I did attend a similar event, for the local chapter of the Special Libraries Association, only one person not affiliated with the university showed up so I have to wonder what the turnout will be for this. This is at lunchtime too so it pretty much precludes anyone from outside the downtown Syracuse area from participating.

Real World: Las Vegas reunion

According to the Real World-Road Rules blog, the cast of the Real World: Las Vegas have apparently all agreed to live together once more to see what happens when seven strangers live in a house, work together, have their lives taped and start getting real. (Good, I don't remember the exact nonsense that they spew out in the credits anymore). That was probably the last time I watched the show but I may watch it again for this reunion.

Bogged down by school work

I have SO much homework to do in the next month that I'm not really sure how I plan to continue job searching, let alone actually interviewing. I already have a trip to New Jersey planned and if I make it to the next round of the Durham place, that will also be in April. Ugh ugh ugh. The best part is that come May 2nd, I will have to be done with it all. But before then, I have two huge papers to write. Oh yeah and I have to build a digital library. AHHH!

I got my latest grade from my one class and AGAIN my professor pissed me off. This paper was on a commercial database produced by the company CSA. That is its name. If you go to its Web site, you will see no mention of any other name. However, my professor changed it to this: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA). No, it does not go by the long name! Perhaps it once did but it does not any longer so don't correct my paper with incorrect information! It reminds me of my friend Carrie who decided she wanted to go by Carolyn suddenly. It took me a long time to adjust to it but I granted her wish and called her by the name she wanted to be called, not by her old name!! I didn't correct her and say, "No you're name is Carrie. I don't care what you might have changed it to." Anyway, what pisses me off is that my professor does crap like this every time she grades a paper. I find it enfuriating!!

Job news, chapter 193

I had a phone interview today with a database company in Durham, NC. I think it went pretty well. The woman was very nice and I felt we got along. Plus, all my coworkers have biographies online so I was able to read a little bit about them and also see their pictures and many of them seem like we could get along well... if you can tell that sort of thing from a 100-word bio.

I saw this post about "How to Ace a Phone Interview" yesterday and thought it might help me, but it didn't really. Most of the tips were things I already do (keep notes nearby) or had already ruled out (dressing up for the interview as if it was in-person). But what was mentioned pretty frequently and that I'd never heard or considered before was that one should stand up while doing the interview. I thought about it and again, decided no. If it was an in-person interview, you wouldn't stand. I must do okay on phone interviews as I would guess I've parlayed approximately 66% of them into in-person second interviews.

And, speaking of which, I have an in-person second interview at a New Jersey book vendor next Monday, 4/16. I was kind of gung ho on Boston or Washington DC for a long time but I'm starting to get kind of excited about the prospect of moving to New Jersey. Or Durham. Either place wouldn't be so bad. Durham has nicer weather, of course. And one of my best friends lives there. But New Jersey is less than an hour from New York City!

This Monday's meme

These questions are kinda difficult!

Random Joy
1.If you were given a blank canvas and watercolours, what would you paint?
Probably some kind of landscape, like a house and a lawn and some trees... maybe a body of water.
2.Are you more likely to be someone's partner in crime or their conscience?
Hmm, it kind of depends on the crime but I would say I'm more likely to be the partner in crime. Or the person egging on the criminal (while I sit back and stay uninvolved, of course!).
3.Have you ever been to see a fortune teller or card reader? Were any of their predictions accurate? I never have been, but I do think about it.
4.Would you sponsor a child abroad? I don't know. Possibly, depending on what it involved. I mean, as long as I knew it was through a worthwhile organization and that the child was actually getting the money or food.
5.What's your favourite youtube video? Umm, what? I don't have a favorite video. Do people have favorites? I pretty much only use YouTube to catch things I missed on TV.

(questions via)

Which Sex and the City Vixen Am I?

Here is a quiz to commemorate my recent watching of the entire Sex and the City series on DVD over the last couple of months...

You Are Most Like Carrie!

You're quirky, flirty, and every guy's perfect first date. But can the guy in question live up to your romantic ideal? It's tough for you to find the right match - you're more than a little picky. Never fear... You've got a great group of friends and a great closet of clothes, no matter what! Romantic prediction: You'll fall for someone this year... Totally different from any guy you've dated.

Which Sex and the City Vixen Are You?

I hate April Fool's Day

Sure you sometimes hear funny stories about how someone was fooled but overall, I despise this so-called "holiday". It's 1 am, just one hour into the day, and I've already seen three different online gags... none of which I thought was the slightest bit funny. Mostly they annoy me. I like when people are just genuinely funny rather than when they try so hard to fool others. Just a rant, no foolin'.