Neat Cake Pan

How cool is this? A great idea for a Super Bowl party or any football party. Although I have to wonder just how easy it is, nonstick or not, to get that cake out of that pan in as good of shape as it is in that picture. (via)

Friday Night Lights

The first season of Friday Night Lights comes out on DVD today and I'm really tempted to buy it because it's only $19.99 (well, at Amazon, Best Buy, and Circuit City anyway). I've been watching it online and am loving it. It's so good! But, why spend $20 for a DVD set that I might never watch again when I can watch all the episodes for free online. Right?

Meetings, schmeetings

Don't you love when your boss invites you at the last minute to a meeting because he thinks you might have something to offer and then that meeting ends up taking 1 1/2 hours and it turns out you were not needed at all? That's what happened to me today! I guess it's better (in the eyes of my boss) than spending that time in front of my computer slacking off and searching the Internet, which I've basically done since I got back to my desk. Oy.

Disgusting film

I just watched this documentary, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, and it was simply disgusting. It's basically about all the money that Halliburton KBR has made off of the war in Iraq - and how they make that money. Really really disgusting.

Cool site? PolitiFact

This site, from the St. Petersburg Times and CQ.com, seeks the truth for the upcoming 2008 Presidential campaign. It has a "Truth-o-Meter" which investigates candidates' claims to determine whether they are truthful or not. Looks kinda cool!! It's interesting AND it has a sense of humor, like this page on Joe Biden's claim that President Bush is "brain-dead." On the truth-o-meter, Biden ranks as "Pants on Fire." Heh.

Book Review: The New OPL Sourcebook

I checked out The New OPL Sourcebook from the library, hoping it would be helpful to my job. OPL stands for one-person library and well, that's exactly what I am at work! Plus, the author is from Cleveland (yay!) and has a blog that I read semi-regularly so I had high hopes that it would be useful. The first half of the book consisted of an overview of a lot of the basic principles of libraranship and honestly seemed like a retread of grad school for me so I was pretty disappointed. I can see how it would be helpful to someone who hasn't been to library school recently but that's not me. The second half of the book provides all kinds of useful links and reading suggestions on pretty much every topic under the sun. I love to read recommended links because you never know what you'll find and there definitely were some promising links that I still need to check out (and will probably post here) but most of them were for librarians in general and were not specific to one-person libraries. Plus, anytime someone publishes a book with Web links usually means that a number of them are outdated and extinct by the time the book comes out so I am expecting that to be the case once I start checking them out.

Overall, it was an okay read, but I'm glad I didn't purchase it. I'd give it a B-.

I Want One: Puzzle Wall Mount Fish Bowls

How cute are these? Having hanging fish bowls helps to alleviate space problems, too. (via)

Away for the weekend

I went home, back to Cleveland, for an extra long weekend and just returned to DC! My car's lease expires tomorrow so I went on a car-shopping mission. I test drove a few and talked to some salesmen but then quickly deduced that I just cannot afford and do not want to pay for a new car right now. Therefore, I'm keeping my current car! Yay! I am kind of sick of my car but none of the ones I test drove jumped out at me anyway so I'm not sure what I would have gotten. At least I know what I'm getting with the one I have now and it's really dirt cheap for the amount of miles on it and how new it is.

Monday meme: Random Joy

Random Joy

1. What percent of your pants are denim? Umm, about 5%, I'd estimate.
2. What are your thoughts on the WWE? Entertaining? Irritating? Worst invention ever? Not for me. But, as an avid soap opera fan and an avid sports fan, I can get why someone might enjoy it.
3. Have you seen any movies recently that you would consider to be in the class of "greatest movies of all time"? "Of all time"? That's asking a lot and no recent ones fit that bill, nope.
4. Have you ever denied having a livejournal/blog? Not denied but neglected to mention, sure.
5. If you were able to travel anywhere in the world, with any two people (alive, dead, real or fictional) as your traveling companions, where would you go, and who would come with you? I think my parents, especially since I just spent the weekend at home with them and it's sad coming back away from them. I don't care where we go. I'd love to just get away on a beach vacation for two weeks or so.

(via)

San Diego, here I come!!

I found out today that I get to go to San Diego next month for work for a seminar! YAY! We are putting on the seminar and I will help out with it, plus I will have to conduct an in-person meeting for one of the committees I work with. I have to be there for three days (Sun.-Mon.-Tues.) but will probably stay at least an extra night because I won't be done until after 5pm on Tuesday. I guess it will be kind of long days what with me having to assist in set-up and all that but I'm really looking forward to it!

Craigslist nightmare ad of the week

I should actually post some of these more often because I'm always amazed at some of the things people are seeking but okay, here's the ad (an edited version):

$850 / 1br - Clean, bright, spacious bedroom in 1bed apt close to pentagon metro

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Looking for a clean, non-smoking female roommate to occupy the bedroom in a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. You will have your own bedroom, shared bathroom and kitchen. The living room is well converted to another bedroom and occupied by a couple.



Now, tell me, who wants to pay $850 to share a tiny little apartment like that with a couple? I have seen a number of 1-bedroom apartments seeking a roommate (one in the bedroom and one in the living room) but this is the first I've seen with a COUPLE living in one of the rooms. That would suck.

Cheri's unbelievable adventure

So, after work, which by the way I only worked half a day because of this ridiculous cold, I just wanted to get some decongestant. The one I had clearly was not working. Anyway, so I stop at the grocery store that is right by my house. It was CLOSED! At 6pm, the grocery store was closed due to "technical problems." Whatever that means! How ridiculous. So I go to another shopping center, where there is both a grocery store and a drug store, thinking I'll have better luck. So I got what I wanted at CVS, great. Then I decided to get a milkshake from McDonald's to soothe my throat. Guess what? Their milkshake machine was BROKEN! Seriously. What is the deal? Is the world out to get me today or what?

Monday meme: Patterns

Patterns
1. Have you ever worn a kilt? What about a plaid uniform skirt? Nope, but I did always WANT to wear a plaid uniform skirt.
2. Do you know how to play pool? I know how to play pool but I suck at it.
3. Have you ever found Waldo? Umm, yeah. In one of the books, I successfully have found Waldo, if that's what the question is asking.
4. What is the dress code at your place of work? How random are these questions! Dress code at work is business casual and do not DARE wear flip-flops!!!
5. Polka-dots, paisley, toile, or floral - which is most your style? I'm not even sure I know what toile is but out of these, I guess I would pick paisley. I have a polka dot shirt that I wear sometimes, though, and as I've gotten older, I've been known to check out a floral print or two.

(via)

Summer cold

I have a full-fledged cold and it sucks! I can't breathe, I can barely speak... Yesterday, I was talking to my dad and he said it sounds like it hurts for me to talk. And that I sound like my brother! Thanks, Dad! It doesn't hurt to talk but I also wouldn't complain too much if someone decapitated me, either. It's so aggravating. I feel like having a cold in the height of summer is the absolute worst thing, too, because it's so nice outside and I'm laying in bed wanting to die. The other sucky thing is that I don't think I'm getting better. I definitely feel worse than yesterday, although I guess I am coughing less so that's maybe a plus.

Weird phone calls

Does anyone else think it's weird that one of the maintenance men in our building calls for my roommate about once a week or so? Maybe more. And it's not work-related. He just called (9:57pm on a Saturday) and he's like "Karen, how are you? I haven't heard from you. Why don't you call me back?" So. Weird. I want to ask her about it but I also kind of don't want to know. Most of the time, she doesn't even seem to listen to his messages. Clandestine affair gone regretful perhaps?

Beer Sample

I was at the grocery store last night and they actually had beer samples! I've never heard of or seen that before. But of course I tried it! Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat - not bad.

Save the Environment Comedy Central-Style

Comedy Central has launched a Web site called Address the Mess devoted to recycling and the environment. Pretty cool. (via)

"Heat give Penny Hardaway comeback chance"

Yay! I've always liked Penny Hardaway. Better yet, if he's given another chance, maybe we'll see a return of the L'il Penny commercials! Like this one. And this one. And this one. You know, I still have my talking L'il Penny doll (action figure?), which seriously was probably the best present my ex-boyfriend ever gave me.

Stardust comes out today!

It seems like weeks ago (well it was!) that I went to a sneak preview of Stardust and it's only hitting theaters today but I really enjoyed it. It's very reminiscent of The Princess Bride and that, of course, is a good thing. Personally, though, I don't think they are doing a very good job of marketing it.

Looking for some book recommendations?

It's always kind of interesting to get a bit of insight into famous people, so Oprah offers book recommendations from celebrities on her Web site. I definitely added some books to my 'To Read' list from it, not necessarily because of who was recommending it but because of what they had to say about it.

Top 100 Tools for Learning

Here is a list of the top 100 tools for learning that I would like to investigate further, I think. A lot of them I already use without even thinking about it (like #1, 2, 4, 8, 9 (obviously), 13). Others don't make sense to me as a tool for learning. Skype as #3? I mean, it's a communication tool so I guess that helps learning in that it allows one to communicate with others and then learn but to me, that's kind of a stretch.

If only I watched CBS soaps...

I found out today that CBS airs the most recent episodes of its soaps (The Young & the Restless, Guiding Light, As the World Turns) on CBS.com! How great is that? Actually, NBC airs Passions on its Web site too. But, of course, I watch the ABC ones that are NOT aired online. How I would love to be able to watch an occasional episode during my lunch break. Maybe they soon will...

Monday Meme: Metallics

1. Gold or silver? Which looks better on you? I don't know which looks better on me but I like silver better right now.
2. What is your favourite Olympic sport to watch? There are way too many to name but I would say maybe figure skating for the winter and swimming or gymnastics for the summer.
3. "Goldfinger" or "Goldmember"? Would you rather watch a James Bond movie or a Mike Myers comedy? Mike Myers comedy
4. Have you ever won a trophy? I do have a trophy among my things but I couldn't tell you what it was for, something academic for sure.
5. Do you set off metal detectors in airports? Not yet.

(via)

Who's the boss?

So, I'm getting a new boss at work as part of a reorganization and got to help with the hiring! The gal I manage and I were able to interview the final two candidates and it was a little nerve-wracking. I didn't know what to ask, although I did prepare a few questions of course. It's slightly unfair because I was so much more calm and ready for the second one today and was really nervous for the first person, so I guess in the future, if I ever have to interview you, try not to be first! Both women know nothing about research or libraries nor do they seem to want to get involved in the research department at all other than overseeing us, which is good, I guess.

Either candidate would do a good job probably and I would be fine with either one as my new boss but I definitely felt that the second one was probably more suited for the other responsibilities of the job. Now I can put on my resume that I've done some interviewing!

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma is a new movie I saw last night. It's so new, in fact, that it doesn't yet have an official Web site and isn't due to hit theaters until Sept. 7th. But not only did I get to see a sneak preview of the film, but two of the actors from the film showed up at the end and answered questions for the audience. It was pretty cool, being two rows away from Peter Fonda and Ben Foster. I took a picture to provide proof but it kind of sucks since AS ALWAYS when I want to use my camera, the batteries seem to be on the verge of dying and only had enough juice for one picture. Regardless, here's the proof:



By the way, the movie was pretty enjoyable. It's billed as a Western but it's mostly a drama that happens to take place in the Old West about a guy (Christian Bale) just trying to help his family out and make some money by transporting an outlaw (Russell Crowe) to the prison train.

Me Simpsonized

This is what I look like as a Simpsons character. What do you think? Kind of does look like me, doesn't it? Try it yourself. (via)