Funny... and ew!

Kiss my ass, George Bush Web site. Yes, it's exactly what it says... (courtesy of Freakgirl)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my mom turns 60! Happy Birthday to her! Not that she'll want her age broadcast over the Internet probably, but it's a pretty big birthday, so I wanted to acknowledge it. If only I were employed and could have thrown a huge birthday party for her or something.

Word of the day: valetudinarian

n : a person of a weak or sickly constitution; especially : one whose chief concern is being or becoming a chronic invalid

My sentence using valetudinarian: Unlike my great aunt, who is out working at age 88 and traveling around the world, I know other elderly people who are valetudinarian and prefer to wallow in their old age and sit around watching television.

Long time no see

Tonight, we saw a distant relative who was in town from the Boston area and who we rarely ever see. I guess she's just my mom's aunt but since we have so little contact with her, I always think she is a much more distant relative. She was in town for a wedding so we got together with her so she could meet my nephew Ben. She is in her late eighties yet still works about 3 days a week as a nurse. It's pretty amazing, although my mom thinks the last thing she wants to be doing at that age is working at all and I'm kind of with her there. The other nice thing was that she gave me her daughter's business card - her daughter is a library director in the Pittsburgh area. So now I need to network...

Word of the day: adduce

v : to offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis

My sentence using adduce: Perhaps after reading my account of my public librarian testing mistakes in the preceding post, one might adduce that I am not cut out to be a public librarian.

Doh!

I had another interview and another round of testing for a public library job today. The interview went okay - it was one of these where I wasn't entirely sure I was giving the right answers but maybe I was. The questions were weird and it was seriously the most structured interview ever. I work better with a little less structure. But it could have gone well. Hey, they only interviewed six out of 70 of the test-takers and I was one of the six so I feel like I already won.

Then came the testing for a different job but in the same library system, where I had a brain freeze which might result in me not getting an interview. One of the questions was "What is the name of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series?" Umm, I have actually read the Harry Potter books but I'm sorry to say that I am not a fanatic and do not remember the order of the book titles. I put Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix which I am PROUD to say is the title of... the fifth book. Oops. Close. But, hey, at least I didn't put "Harry Potter & are you seriously asking me this?" which I was tempted to put.

THEN, I had to "name three authors (currently popular) in various genres": mystery, romance, science fiction/fantasy, horror and western. Umm, again with the currently popular crap... That was on the last test too. I've been a graduate student for the last two years so I have no idea what is currently popular - this evidenced by the fact that I'm a book behind on the Harry Potter series. Ha ha.

So, anyway, mystery was easy for me, romance a little harder (I came up with two and then really struggled to think of a third when finally duh, Danielle Steel finally came into my head. She's only written about 800 books.) I went with old stand-bys for horror, hoping that these writers (Stephen King, John Saul and Dean Koontz) are still writing and therefore "currently popular", and then all I had left was science fiction and western.

Science fiction/fantasy: I was totally stumped. Umm, yes, I have dated at least six guys who are total sci-fi nerds. TOTAL fanatics and yes, even lived with one for years who read the same books over and over and over again, yet I could not come up with the name of any authors. None. Terry Brooks popped into my head eventually so there was one. After some struggle, I thought of Terry Pratchett, but I wasn't even sure if he wrote sci-fi or if that was my imagination. (Turns out he does.) I could NOT think of a third. I kind of thought of like 8 or 10 but kind of doesn't count when you don't remember their names!! Finally, I put down Isaac Asimov since I caught about 12 seconds of I Robot on cable the other night. Asimov is a sci-fi author but I doubt he would be classified as "currently popular." We'll see I guess. Who I wanted to put down was Robert Jordan, since I actually met him, but "that guy I met with the bushy beard who writes like one book every four years" probably wouldn't have cut it.

Western: Umm, are there even three authors who write westerns? Because I don't think there are. I put the obvious Louis L'Amour and then was like, umm, who else? I was desperately picturing that guy who won the Oscar for writing the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, but could not for the life of me think of his name. (Larry McMurtry). I so wish I could have thought of him - or had the balls to write "the guy who won the Oscar for best screenplay for Brokeback Mountain." Instead, I settled for Annie Proulx who wrote the short story "Brokeback Mountain" and is so totally not a Western writer. And for the third name, I put Tony Hillerman, who I know damn well is a mystery writer but I was pretty sure his books take place in the west so I went with it.

Boy did that suck! These questions are ridiculous. The remaining 8 questions on the test were at least more like interview questions: "Explain what customer service means to you." "Tell me about your customer service experience." "Tell me about a time you made a mistake on the job and how you corrected that." I feel like I can bullshit my way with those kinds of questions, probably because there are no right or wrong answers staring me in the face.

Anyway, bottom line: I feel stupid and I have more waiting ahead of me. They told me to expect a couple week wait after the interview and I know it will probably be at least a week before I hear if my score on the test qualifies me for an interview.

Belated birthday present

Yesterday I finally got my birthday present from my parents: an Mp3 player!! It's sweet but I haven't had a chance to really look at it or try it out yet.

Word of the day: interstice

n : a little space between two things : chink, crevice

My sentence using interstice: Usually when I cannot find one of the remote controls, it ends up being in the interstice between the bed and the wall.

Muppet personality test

Which Muppet am I? Yay! I'm Fozzie. Fozzie was always my favorite Muppet.

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!" You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up. If only your routine didn't always bomb! You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

If you don't know your phone number, how am I supposed to call you?

I have another interview scheduled for next week (I had one Tuesday in Columbus) and the director of the library who left the message said that she was setting up interviews for Friday, September 9th (when she apparently meant the 29th) and then left the wrong phone number, too. Umm, is it wrong that I find two mistakes like this in the span of a 2-minute answering machine message a little discouraging? In terms of, like, maybe that person isn't the greatest manager and not necessarily someone you'd want to work for... To her credit, though, she was nice when I called her back. After I figured out the correct phone number, that is.

Reality shows

I am SO glad that Big Brother All-Stars is ending tomorrow (well, later tonight since it's after midnight). You have no idea how much time I wasted with that this summer. Remember when I announced that I was addicted to it? That was only a couple of weeks into it. It definitely got worse before it got better, but I am proud to admit that for the last month or so, I have been a whole lot less addicted to it. Every summer I get pulled into that crap and every summer as I watch it and try to find out what is going on in the live feeds, I endlessly complain about how horrible it is. Yet, why is it so addictive?

Having been a HUGE reality fan in the past, I'm finding myself not too interested in the upcoming reality debuts. I don't know what happened. My love of Survivor (which starts Thursday) has definitely waned during the last two years. I'll probably watch it but it isn't going to be can't-miss-TV for me. I might just watch the episodes on the Internet when I get a chance. Even The Amazing Race (which starts Sunday) has little appeal to me, although that show usually sucks me in anyway. I just don't know what my problem is. Dancing with the Stars? Meh. Celebrity Duets? Ick. American Idol? I barely watched that this year. Treasure Hunters? Hated it. America's Got Talent? It was horrible. The only show that I'm really enjoying now and am eager to watch each week is Project Runway. And this is the first season I have ever watched that. What is wrong with me? Is getting sick of reality TV a sign that I'm growing up?!!

Job testing angst

I went for testing today for a job I applied for at the local county library branch. It said this was preliminary testing covering "the basic skills" needed for the job. Whatever that means. I tried studying a little, which meant I looked over the New York Times bestseller lists and the Dewey Decimal System. I thought initially we would be tested on using the catalog and I knew that would be a piece of cake. I can use their online catalog backwards and forwards. Anyway, overall, I wasn't sure quite what to expect.

Well, there were about 70 people there! I was shocked. I don't know if everyone who applied was invited to the testing or if there was some pre-preliminary qualifiers. I mean, as part of the application process, there is an online test... one of those that asks if you like to work alone or work in groups, if you are a leader or a follower, if you are flexible or rigid regarding working hours, etc... I imagine some candidates can be eliminated based on their answers to those questions. But, geez, it was kind of discouraging to see so many candidates for this part-time job!

Anyway, so there were about 70 of us and it was kind of ridiculous. The "test" consisted of five questions. The first two questions basically described the work schedule and asked if that was satisfactory (nights and weekends) and what prior commitments one might have that could impede their availability to work. A third question asked us to describe in detail our previous experience working with the public. Only the final two questions had even a little to do with those "basic skills" for the job we would be doing. The one question told us to name the titles and authors of three recently published books and tell us why we might recommend those books to others. Umm, yeah, that might sound easy but it wasn't. Recently published? What does that mean? What's the cutoff for 'recent'? I picked one that was published in the past few months but the other two are from like 2003 and 2004 because I just couldn't think of anything else, even anything I hadn't actually read but knew what it was about. It's not like I have the money to buy newly published books and if I wanted them from the library, there is usually a wait!

Okay, the fifth question was the kicker, though. It listed ten people or things and asked us to describe who or what they were. Briefly, I guess, since there wasn't a lot of space. Assuming the test gets changed up regularly and also that the few readers of this blog are not going to be taking the same test, the ten things were:

Jimmy DiMora
IPod
Call & Post
Sam Fulwood
Charlie Frye
Rachael Ray
YouTube
Broadband
Jump Drive
The 4400

Yeah. Well, some of them (like Jimmy DiMora, Sam Fulwood, Call & Post & Charlie Frye) are local things. And, considering I haven't lived in Cleveland much for the last two years, I was a little annoyed. Luckily for me, I had no problem at all with the others. Or Charlie Frye, since that's sports-related and I know sports. My guesses were pretty close, too, although I'm not sure what kind of answer they are looking for. I guessed that Jimmy DiMora was "a public official in Cleveland" when in fact he is the County Commissioner. Technically I'm right, although pretty vague. I guessed that Sam Fulwood was the editor-in-chief of the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper when in fact he is just a columnist in the Metro section. But kind of close, right? And I put that the Call & Post was a newspaper serving the NE Ohio area when in fact it is a Cleveland-area African-American newspaper. Close but kind of missing the key ingredient.

So, the test was kind of bizarre, not at all what I expected, and frustrating to knowingly be competing against so many others. I fully do not expect to make it to the next round at all. Did I mention that this job doesn't even require the Master's Degree that I will go into debt paying off? So if I can't get this job, is there hope for a Master's Degree job?

My dating profile...

Sometimes these quizzes are so right that it's eerie; sometimes they are so wrong that it is laughable and sometimes they just make no sense. This time, I can't get over how very accurate the 'Date Match Profile' is. Those descriptions and rankings are really pretty much dead-on what I would want in a man, based on my experience and what men I have dated have lacked. I have never dated a man I would call 'Adventurous' (hmm, maybe one comes to mind...) and I really would love that. Practical yet adventurous with some mystery that I can try to crack. Totally...

On the other hand, I don't think my dating profile is too accurate at all. Yes, I am definitely liberal but I'm not sure that would be the top identifying feature about me. And, adventurous? Not so much. Anyone who knows me would have to agree that 'Funny' should be in my top 3 and not adventurous. And there's no way that 'Shy' would get ranked below 'Religious'. I am religious in no way at all.

Your dating personality profile: Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters. Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life.

Your date match profile: Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things. Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw him out of his shell and get to know what he is all about.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Liberal 2. Practical 3. Adventurous 4. Funny 5. Intellectual 6. Romantic 7. Big-Hearted 8. Sensual 9. Religious 10. Shy

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Practical 2. Adventurous 3. Shy 4. Intellectual 5. Funny 6. Sensual 7. Big-Hearted 8. Conservative 9. Romantic 10. Traditional

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

Library card

You probably have to be a total library geek like me to be excited about this like I am but I got a library card for the New York Public Library today! I found out last week that all residents of New York State and students of New York State are allowed to get a free NYPL library card (otherwise, anyone can pay $100 for one) so I wasted no time in applying and I got it already. That was so fast! There are some databases accessible to NYPL patrons that I have no experience with so I'm hoping to bulk up my resume.

Word of the day: pecuniary

adj 1: consisting of or measured in money
2: of or relating to money

My sentence using pecuniary: Although I'm currently enrolled in class for the fall semester, I may have to drop out due to pecuniary concerns.

Happenings of the last few days...

I was really bummed this weekend as I was unable to access my email for all of Sunday and all of Monday. It seemed to be a systemwide syr.edu problem because I could not access any syr.edu Web pages at all, including WebCT, which houses online classes. And, yes, the first day of class was Monday. At times like that, it makes me realize that I depend too much on my email system for not only did that limit my ability to communicate with others but, since I put all the jobs I want to apply for in an email folder and since I put all the Web sites that I use to check for jobs on WebCT, I could not access that stuff either. When I was at school and relying heavily on computer labs, it was just super convenient to put information where it is always accessible no matter what computer I'm using. Maybe now that I'm basically using only one computer, I should save stuff to a more static location.

I am currently registered for two classes for this semester but I only need one to count towards the Certificate program I'm pursuing. I am leaning towards dropping out of both, though, just because my current transient situation is so less than ideal for learning. For gosh sakes, my computer is located on a TV tray!! The one class I'm in - Human Interaction with Computers - seems pretty easy, though, so I may stick with it. Is that a horrible reason to stay in a class?

My email situation was a perfect excuse not to apply for jobs, though, and that is what I did - took a couple days off from that fruitless activity. Ironically, that doesn't stop the rejection letters from coming. I got one yesterday and another one today, neither place wanting to even waste their time interviewing me. How wonderful it is to be loved!

Make a Web site work-friendly

I'm not sure where I came across this site but it's pretty cool. It's called "Work Friendly" and all you need to do is type in a Web site's URL and it gets turned into what looks like a page of MS Word. Therefore, when your boss comes up behind you it looks like you are reading a Word document rather than reading a Web site. Ingenious!

Victoria's Secret

Approximately a month ago, I posted about the free stuff I'd been getting lately. Well, duh, I forgot a major thing: free Victoria's Secret panties. My mom or dad received a coupon in the mail for a pair of free panties and then there were two coupons in two different magazines I read recently - all in all, I got three free pairs of panties from Victoria's Secret in the last month. No purchase required. It's a pretty sweet deal, considering an individual pair of panties there is valued at $7.50.

Today, however, as I was picking up my third free pair, the salesgirl conned me into trying one of their scents. I figured I would do it since 1.) I really don't have any preferred perfume that I wear so you never know and 2.) I was getting over $22 of free merchandise from the store so the least I could do is try some lotion. She gave me some Heavenly lotion, which apparently is the #1 fragrance in America (seriously? why does that make me skeptical?). She pumped some lotion onto my hands. THEN, and this is where it got good, she pumped a DIFFERENT lotion, a thicker lotion, onto my hands over the first lotion (I assume it is the luxe lotion that is advertised on that site) - which she says sets the other lotion in place!! As if spending $20 for a bottle of lotion isn't enough, now she's telling me that I need to spend $29 extra to make sure that lotion stays in place? How crazy is that? I was totally amused. These retailers, always thinking up ways to get us to buy crap!

Word of the day: climacteric

n 1: a major turning point or critical stage
2a: menopause b: a period in the life of a male corresponding to female menopause

My sentence using climacteric: When I finally become employed as a librarian, it will be climacteric since I will actually have a profession instead of just a job.

Good idea for a blog

I was thinking that it would have probably been a good idea to have kept track of all the dozens of jobs I applied for on a blog. I could have posted the job description maybe but, at the very least, it would have been good to have posted something along the lines of "Today I applied for a job as a medical librarian at Wake Forest University." (Actually, that was last week, not today!) That way, when (if) I finally get a job, I would have a good record of all I did to get one!

I guess I could start it now but considering I've been applying to tons of jobs for the last 8-10 months (I applied for like two in November; that was the start), it would be starting pretty late in the game. And while I could probably recreate some of it, I know it wouldn't be complete. Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud, so to speak.

Treasure Hunters finale

This show that's been airing on NBC this summer, Treasure Hunters, is mostly pretty bad (I'd estimate I have seen 66% of the show anyway, however) but the finale is tonight and I caught the tail end of last week's episode and their clue told them they would be going to the Library of Congress next so yeah, way to suck a girl in. I'll definitely be watching tonight and trying to see if I recognize anyone or any place NOT because I enjoy the show or care about who wins. If they run around the Library at all, especially to places that are not normally accessible to the general public, I'm going to get a little weepy. It's been exactly a year since my internship there ended.

Ikea!

The new Ikea catalog is available online. Yay!

No power, no nothing

Our power went out around 3pm today (which, sadly to say, is pretty close to the start of my day thanks to my current sleep patterns). It didn't come back on until nearly 9pm, leaving me unable to get anything accomplished today. I wanted to do some laundry and write some cover letters and send out resumes. Well, I was kind of in the midst of narrowing the jobs I wanted to apply for when the power suddenly went out and then I just couldn't work on them without the job descriptions in front of me! Yes, I considered going to the library to work on them and I have done that before but I find it such a nuisance because they only let you use the computers for one hour and I get totally caught up constantly checking how much time I have left. Duh - I suppose I could have taken my dad's laptop to the library and used their free wi-fi (I assume they have free wi-fi, but I don't even know)... but his computer has no word processing software on it.

Anyway, I was so frustrated with it all. Plus, I was waiting for a phone call and without electricity we also have no answering machine. And for the one hour I did go out, I was certain I was going to miss the call and probably did.

I hate being dependent on electricity like that. I did finish the book I was reading and got in a 45-minute walk, though, so all was not lost. AND, it was the first day I've done any walking since my injury where I didn't come back feeling some pain. Phew, finally healed. Although that toe still doesn't bend...

Word of the day: embonpoint

n : plumpness of person : stoutness

My sentence for embonpoint: I think the Cheri Stuffed Chair from Kmart (see today's other entry) would be quite comfortable for most people; however, those with excessive embonpoint might find it lacking in support.

What's the chair stuffed with?

Kmart has a 'Cheri Stuffed Chair' for sale. Yes, I'm tempted to buy it just so I can tell everyone what it's called even though they don't ask.

Things I like, part 3: AllaboutSP.com

This Web site is awesome! While graphically it is a bit busy and the framing is enough to drive someone to drink, the content is pretty sweet for any fan of South Park. It seems pretty thorough although honestly I'm not too interested in participating in South Park forums or reading the pseudo-bios of the characters (if you can even read Kenny or Kyle's over the walllpaper). The exciting part of it all is that it features ALL episodes of South Park for streaming viewing! Not just the episodes, but also the South Park movie, early pre-show cartoons featuring the South Park guys and other rare media, like Robin Williams performing "Blame Canada" at the 2000 Oscars. Although nothing is downloadable, it all seems to be commercial-free and in pretty good shape. It's really pretty great and was a big help when I decided I wanted to catch up a bit on the show I hadn't watched since like 2002. It even has that controversial episode about Scientology that caused Isaac Hayes to leave the show. Like I said, pretty sweet.

P.S. The site is in the process of moving to an easier-to-remember URL - the one in the title of my post, AllaboutSP.com.

Things I like, part 2: Free stuff!

Who doesn't love free stuff, though? I feel like I've gotten more free stuff in the last six or seven weeks since I've been back living with my parents than I'd gotten in the last six or seven years - and I'm not even talking about the fantastic things like free room and board and a free vacation.

Let's see... first, I got a $10 coupon from Express for my birthday. While I know the idea behind the coupon is to get the person to go in the store and spend MORE than $10, I found a cute and comfy tank top for $9.99. Free tank, yay!

This week, I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got a free pass to see John Tucker Must Die, which wouldn't exactly have been my first choice of a movie to see right now but it wasn't bad. (I saw it last night.) At the movie, I picked up a free poster, too. Free movie, free poster, yay!

I filled out this online survey from Lucky magazine and they say I will get a free T-shirt, so yay! (Although, honestly, I will believe that when I see it.)

My mom had two $10 coupons to use from Kohl's and although technically she only got them after she spent $50 or more in purchases twice, she didn't want them and gave them to me. So they were free to me! And, just like Express, I'm sure they expect you to spend more than $10 each time you redeem one of them but, just like Express, I was able to find two items I wanted for less than $10 each! I got a nifty lunch bag for $9.99 (along the lines of this, although I like mine better) and a nice blouse to wear under my suits for $8.80 (should I ever have an interview!) so not only were they two free items, but they were two practical items as well. Yay!

Word of the day: desideratum

n : something desired as essential


My sentence for desideratum: A fair salary, health care and vacation days are all things I consider desideratum as I look for a job!

Things I like: Sizzlers

Not to profess my love for this new profession I've chosen, but, the county public library system where I'm living currently has these things called 'Sizzlers' which are basically new titles that are usually in heavy demand. To help patrons get these items more quickly rather than having to wait as 1,000 requests are filled (no joking, the newly released DVD Failure to Launch currently has 1280 hold requests outstanding), the library sets aside certain copies of these titles to let patrons get them by chance. There is no reserving these Sizzlers and they also need to be returned in a week. It's basically first come, first served.

Having book sizzlers is not new at all, and they're great, but now the library also has DVD and magazine sizzlers, depending on the branch. For instance, last week I was able to check out the current issues of Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly! Previously, the current issues could not be checked out at all. I'm pretty pleased by this since I love reading magazines but don't love paying money to read magazines. And with the DVDs, it's kind of a nice bonus for patrons who actually go into the library to look. I know a lot of people just request titles from their computers at home and only go to the library when they know their request has arrived. It's nice to know you might be able to catch something in just by showing up.

Word of the day: lacuna

n 1: a blank space or a missing part : gap
2: a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure

My sentence using lacuna: Cheri's blog is full of lacunas since she doesn't post every day.

Addicted

Here's hoping that admitting it is the first step...

I am addicted to Big Brother All-Stars. Like majorly addicted. It's bad enough that it's on television three nights a week but I've also realized that clips from the live feeds are constantly being added to YouTube. Like constantly. So I have literally spent hours watching these clips that wonderful, generous, just-as-addicted fans post on YouTube for the benefit of us cheapskates who do not want to pay the $40 to subscribe to the Live Feeds. I know I haven't done this in the last couple of years (especially last year when I barely even watched the show) but when I used to work in a cubicle all day, I would read written recaps of the action in the house. However, these YouTube clips are waybetter. Like way better.

So, yeah, I've been pretty good today and only watched like two clips but I'm kind of jonesing to watch more before I go to bed.

All I want

I saw this ad online earlier for a concert here with Toad the Wet Sprocket and Big Head Todd & the Monsters and I got a little excited. If I was a concertgoer and if I had $22.50 to spare (let along $35) and if I had actually read the entertainment section of a local newspaper and/or Web site recently enough to have known in advance about this concert, I might have gone! I still remember when Todd the Wet Sprocket performed outside the school cafeteria when I was an undergrad. AND, the Fear CD is the only CD that I stole from somebody when I was in college... although, technically, I didn't steal it because my roommate or a friend borrowed it and it ended up in my collection unbeknownst to me.

Word of the day: debouch

v 1: to cause to emerge : discharge
2: to march out into open ground : emerge, issue

Good girl

I was a good girl yesterday and spent about six or seven hours working on cover letters and submitting resumes for four jobs that sound pretty cool. Hopefully one of them will pan out. Another job that sounds awesome just came across the listserv so I'll have to get in motion and send that out in the next couple of days.

Cleaning up

I spent the day (or part of it anyway) helping my mom clean out one of the closets in a spare bedroom. There are not words to explain all the crap that my mom saves and I feel it is part of my mission in life to help her organize and downsize whenever I'm home. No lying or exaggerating, my mother could open her own stationery store with all the greeting cards, stationery, thank you notes, wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, gift bags, tissue paper, post-it notes and other school supplies. Crazy!

Word of the day: factotum

n 1: a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities 2: a general servant


If I had run across the word 'factotum' on like a standardized test like the SAT or the GRE, I would never have guessed it was a person...

Starting from the beginning

I'm excited to see that ABC will start airing Grey's Anatomy on Thursdays (its new night come this fall) starting from the show's very first two episodes this Thursday, July 6. Although I've seen a couple episodes along the way and my parents have nearly the entire second season on DVD, I am happy to have a chance to watch the show from the beginning.

Oh, never mind that the stupid Web site editors have the dates as Sunday, July 6. The "July 6" part is correct. The "Sunday" part is not.

Ouch

Actually, it doesn't hurt much anymore (except when I try to put ALL my weight on it) but is it bad that I can't bend my injured toe yet? I hurt it Friday morning... The swelling seems to have gone down, although the discoloration is still extreme.

Word of the day: gasconade

GASCONADE

n : bravado or exaggerated boasting

While I was gone...

...I got NO job offers or interview offers at all. Not that I really have sent out any resumes in about a month (approximately - yes I know that's awful) but you never know when someone who got your resume four months ago might call. So when I got home and finally checked the voicemails and the messages and the emails, there was nothing offering me a job! Damn!


...I had a birthday. So, yeah, now I'm a year older and still unemployed.


...I decided I'm going to start doing Pilates. I bought this book on doing Pilates without machines a few years ago and never did anything with it but I came across the book again right before I left for SC and now I think is the time to start it up!


...I continued to get my Word-of-the-Day emails:

VICISSITUDE
n : a change or succession; especially : an often unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance

FULIGINOUS
(pronounced with a hard u and a soft g)
adj 1. a: sooty b: obscure, murky 2: having a dark or dusky color

Vacation over

I'm back from my trip to the beach! Sun, sand, shopping, swimming... how much more fun can there be? Yes, Hilton Head was nice. The weather was mostly nice - it rained early in the week but not enough to ruin the entire day. The sun was hot - but not too hot. I didn't even really get burned at all, for once, and did end up with a little bit of a tan and I do think my hair is just the teensiest blonder, so these things make me very happy. Better still, I didn't come home 20 lbs. heavier after eating pretty much non-stop while I was there!! I'm sure I can attribute that to actual exercise, since I swam and walked - two things I do not do regularly (although I should!).

I also was able to read a handful of books, which was nice. I haven't really read much while I was in grad. school, guiltily thinking that if I was to read something, it should be the actual articles and textbooks assigned to me. The last month or so since graduation, I just wasn't really in the mood to read and get wrapped up in the lives of others. On vacation, I read a few books I'd bought but hadn't yet gotten around to reading. Two of them were books I'd wanted to read for awhile and picked up at the same library sale last fall. One, I was pretty disappointed in while the other was pretty good. What's remarkable is how many similarities the two books had. It's almost like I have a 'type' which I suppose is true but I honestly didn't think these two books were going to be that similar. Besides those, I also read a couple of fluff titles, a standard murder mystery and a light romantic comedy. And magazines, of course.

In the bad news department, I managed to majorly stub/bruise/break one of my toes on one of the last days so I was in a lot of pain and didn't get to walk along the beach as much as I had wanted to but I'm sure it will heal soon enough. I don't know how or why but I manage to majorly hurt one of my toes at least once a year. It gets swollen and disgusting-looking (black, blue, purple and yellowish) and then I limp around for a few days from the pain. I guess it's because I'm a clutz. And because I walk around barefoot as much as possible.

Boost your vocabulary

THAUMATURGY
n : the performance of miracles; specifically : magic


NIDUS
n 1: a nest or breeding place 2: a place where something originates or develops


PULCHRITUDE
n : physical comeliness : beauty


APPOSITE
adj : highly pertinent or appropriate : apt

Dry cleaning doldrums

Today I went to the dry cleaner and that is something I just hate doing! It seems like such a waste of money to me and, to make it worse, I never have any idea how much it will cost until the bill is given to me. Is it too much to ask for a dry cleaner to have a price list hanging near the register so I have some idea what to expect? I picture a price board like one that is found at a fast-food restaurant as ideal for a dry cleaning establishment also. I brought a coupon for 25% off but the order still totaled like $26. This was for five items: 1 skirt, 1 blouse, 1 pant, 1 shirt and 1 sweater. In the past, I have tried to call to gauge the costs but it never seems to be what they tell me over the phone. I guess it all depends on the material of the item? Since I know nothing about the dry cleaning process, I feel like I'm at an extreme disadvantage. I'm not even sure what questions to ask. I'm not even convinced that dry cleaning is all that essential for most of the items that say 'Dry Clean Only' but I'm too chicken to test it on most of my clothing!

Anyway, just a rant...

Ten things I do not miss about Syracuse

In no particular order...

1.) The weather
2.) My apparently hard-of-hearing downstairs neighbor who took to talking on the phone so loudly that I could hear her through the floor and also played music and watched television at similarly loud decibels
3.) Taking online courses with professors/instructors whose classes are approximately 450th on their list of priorities (although technically I have two more classes to take and that might not be over for me)
4.) All the plumbing in my apartment, from the leaky kitchen faucet to the corroded bathtub faucet to the occasionally running toilet
5.) The Library & Information Science program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University
6.) The Library & Information Science program faculty (save a select couple of professors)
7.) The job market
8.) Bad drivers, as my car was hit three times in two years (in other words, three times more than it had ever been hit before moving to Syracuse)
9.) The stress and tension of having to write papers, read all the assignments and keep up with classes as a full-time student
10.) Paying a deposit on bottles and cans and then ultimately trying to get the deposit back via recycling

It was much easier to come up with things I don't miss, although I still struggled coming up with ten. Plus, I'll admit that some of them are definitely not unique to Syracuse and could happen anywhere. They were, however, reminiscent of my Syracuse experience!

Ten things I miss about Syracuse

1.) Brian
2.) Catherine
3.) Curtis
4.) John
5.) Mark
6.) Hanging out at Taps with my friends (many of the above-mentioned ones)
7.) The fact that you can pretty much drive anywhere in the city in less than twenty minutes
8.) The I-Lab (well, I spent a LOT of time there and I suspect I will never have two monitor screens at once like that ever again)
9.) Carousel Center (even though I rarely went there, it is a NICE mall!)
10.) How you can get $5 pizzas just about everywhere

Yep, that's about it. Not even three weeks removed and these are the things that come to mind. It's not a particularly compelling list, is it? Two years of my life and that's the best I can come up with? I tried to think of something regarding S.U. and the school, but the best I could do was #8, which is on campus. I also had 'My friends' as an item grouped together at first and then realized that I needed to give each of them a number in order to get to ten items. Yikes. And, not to say that I only had five friends there, but I would say that those five were definitely my closest friends. Plus Dan, but since he told me he was only my friend and only hung out with me (just the two of us alone sometimes) due to "social obligation," I would pretty much say that he successfully extracted himself from the list of things I miss as well as put himself at the top of the list of "Ass Holes I Know" during one five-minute conversation.

Besides them, Megan gets an honorable mention because although she was my good friend and I do miss her a lot, she's been gone since December so at this time, I am more used to missing her. If that makes sense.

Words-of-the-day

Yes, I'm still collecting words-of-the-day, despite not posting them on here. I'll post some as I get around to it. Today, here are a few:

BIBELOT
(pronounced like: bee-bi-low)
n : a small household ornament or decorative object : trinket


PASQUINADE
n : 1: a lampoon posted in a public place 2: satirical writing : satire


MEGILLAH
n, slang : a long involved story or account


Perhaps when I am on vacation, I will write a short story or novella, turning one of my many megillahs into a pasquinade?

With my parents, I get lazy

So I've moved back to Cleveland temporarily while I job search, to save money and to see my family and friends, who I haven't really seen much of the last two years. It's been nice staying with my parents, although it's also kind of difficult because I miss having my own space and my doing things the way I want to do them. Not to mention that my Internet access is kind of limited. I am getting fairly laptop-proficient, however, which is a plus, I guess. Although it just makes me want one more and well, that's just one other thing I can't afford right now.

Anyway, my plan for now is to go on vacation to Hilton Head, SC, with my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephew next week and when I get back, go full-steam ahead with the plan to move to Washington, DC.

I think.

I REALLY need to send out some more resumes/cover letters because I've pretty much burned the bridge at IPS, where I'd already had a couple of interviews and where they seemed to really want me. Call me crazy but I get really turned off by my future employer constantly calling me 'Cindy,' even when I correct her. But that was just a small problem among the many reasons why I feel less than confident that it is the place for me.

Dilemma of the week

My current quandry involves whether or not I should participate in graduation activities this weekend. On the 'no' side: Well, I already have my diploma. It costs like $60 to rent the required cap & gown get-up. Umm, I pretty much hate every faculty & staff member at this school by now and have zero desire to hear any of them speak, let alone have one of them presumably butcher the pronunciation of my name. On the 'yes' side: I have some good friends here that I will never see together in one place ever again probably and this would be a last opportunity for good-byes and pictures and all that. And that's about it, I guess.

You know how graduation ceremonies go... family is there and you really don't have a whole lot of time to spend with friends. It could very well make me feel even lonelier when the crowds part and I'm left there alone. I guess I do wonder if I would regret not participating if I choose not to... There is an in-between option that involves attending the ceremony and seeing my friends but not actually participating.

Whatever I decide, I have to basically do so by tomorrow at 5pm, I think, which is when they stop passing out the caps & gowns.

My weekend

I have done absolutely nothing today except bake some cookies, sleep and watch a few Lost episodes. I'm way behind on that show and decided to start watching all the eps from this season a few days ago. Umm, that's kind of a big mistake considering I still have a huge assignment due and that show is mega addictive. Anyway, today I didn't feel that well and haven't entirely had a day off in weeks so I felt I was due. Plus, it's not really a total day off since I'm finishing up all the assignments for my one class. Each student had to post on the class (677) blog seven times during the semester, picking out and critiquing a digitization project each time. I had one left to go and had put it off, put it off, put it off. But I finally just did it. That blog is kind of interesting and a good time waster if you are interested at all in seeing digitized collections of things from all over the world, although I would say the majority of them are from museums and universities. My recommendation, also, is to just click on the links and not read all the garbage that my classmates write on the blog. As has happened with all my classes this semester, students seem to not know when to shut up. My other online class (631) has had nearly 2,500 posts on its bulletin board. That's a lot.

Now I have to post the bulletin board for the 677 class one final time and then all I will have left to do is this one final project. The presentation part of it is due tomorrow but I really want to get the presentation and the paper parts done by Monday so I can start focusing on other things (like graduation and moving!). I already got the grade for my third class (676), which wrapped up on Monday.

In other news, I now supposedly have that interview this coming Tuesday. We'll see if the phone call comes this time. Also, go Cavs!

But the phone didn't ring...

I got a call last week for a job interview (woo hoo!) at this grad school in the Washington, DC, area and was supposed to have a phone interview today at 2pm. Well, by 4:30pm when the phone still hadn't rung, I decided it definitely wasn't going to happen and hightailed it out of my apartment to try to salvage the day and get some work done on campus. As it turns out, the call didn't come until about 6pm. The woman apologized but basically admitted that she had forgotten about me in the midst of "emergencies." So she wants to reschedule. And I will. BUT, it makes me even less eager to consider this position... and believe me, I already was regrettting sending my resume.

See, some of my fellow students and I have been talking about the 'just send your resume out to anything' tack vs. the 'only send your resume to the jobs you really, really want' tack. Jobs in our field, particularly entry-level ones, are hard to come by so if we really want to get a job, we really can't afford to be too selective. On the other hand, who wants to apply for a job that really doesn't sound the least bit like anything you would want to do, right? Anyway, there's really no solution, but this job that I was supposed to have the interview for, it was borderline the former category.

Enough words for a small dictionary...

I have a whole slew of words to post from April's word-a-day emails... not that I have ever referred back to any of the other ones I've posted. But you never know, one day I might want to use one of them.

USUFRUCT
n. : 1. the legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits of something belonging to another; 2. the right to use or enjoy something

SACERDOTAL
adj. : of or relating to priests or a priesthood: priestly

DILUVIAL
adj. : of, relating to, or brought about by a flood

PAROXYSM
n. : 1. a fit, attack or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms: convulsion; 2. a sudden violent emotion or action: outburst

MUFTI
n. : civilian clothes

IMPUISSANT
adj. : weak, powerless

CHOUSE
v. : to cheat, trick

What celebrity do you look like?

My friend Mark pointed out this Web site to me - MyHeritage.com - which is ideally a genealogy Web site but which features face recognition technology. I think the idea behind it is if people upload pictures of themselves, they can find long-lost relatives based on the face recognition technology. What the site also offers, though, is an ability to scan a person's face from a photograph and then tell that person what celebrities they look like. It's pretty cool. So, of course, I went crazy with it one day.

The first picture I uploaded of myself indicated I look like Pierce Brosnan and Anna Kournikova. Another picture of me with a friend indicated I look like Eva Mendes. Now, I'm not going to complain about any of those comparisons as they are all attractive people, but I'm not sure that they are true! I guess it's not so much that you might look like these celebrities but that you have matching facial features. Anyway, it was fun!

A new way to blog

Maybe from now on I will just post my horoscope for the day and talk about how close or how far off it was... ha ha. It's just that the one for today couldn't have been closer to the truth:

Today your creative impulses could seem totally blocked, dear Cancer. You might be trying to reach a deadline, whether it's one of your own or one imposed by someone else. You feel the need to get some work done, but your muse seems to have gone on vacation. If your deadline is official, phone whoever's in charge and ask for an extension. If you force yourself to work today, you won't be happy with the results.

That was so true. I struggled to get some homework done, barely got anything accomplished so my muse was definitely gone. If it's ever around in the first place, that is. Luckily, my deadlines were self-imposed so I have some time to get things done next week. Instead of being productive, I watched the Cavs win (yay!) and also watched Walk the Line. Enjoyable, both of them!

Today's horoscope

So I love reading my horoscope but today's is really awesome. Here is what it says - via Yahoo! Astrology:

Today is a good day to slow down a little. Take a long hard look at what you've accomplished lately. Count everything, not just the big things. Have you made your bed most days? Point for you! Have you brushed twice a day, and flossed at least once? Big points! Have you, in the last week or so, told at least one person you're close to that you appreciate them? Really gargantuan big point! What does your list of accomplishments look like?

Now, how can I not like a horoscope that tells me that making my bed and brushing my teeth twice a day is quite an accomplishment!! Especially since I have many, many days lately where I feel like I get nothing accomplished at all despite every effort, it's nice for the astrological guides to tell me that I am wrong!!

Silent Bob Speaks

I've been reading Kevin Smith's chronicle of the life of his buddy, Jason Mewes. Perhaps they are better known as Jay & Silent Bob from the Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back movies... and the upcoming Clerks II.

Anyway, over the last few weeks, Kevin has been chronicling Jason's long battle with drug addiction on his blog. He's up to eight parts and is still going. This is the link to the first part. It's an interesting read. To get to the subsequent parts of the story, the best way is probably to use the calendar and go by date, since the 'Daily Posts' only total seven. He posted part 1 on March 28, part 2 on March 29, part 3 on March 30 and then the rest have been in April.

Test your '80s Music Lyric Knowledge

This quiz asks you to fill in the blanks from all kinds of songs that were hits in the eighties. It's a good quiz, but long. There are 103 questions total (including a couple bonus ones) and I found it hard to stay focused after about the 40th question. Plus, I suck at remembering lyrics out of context like that. And the scoring is bunk. It seems like half of the ones I got right only earned me a 1/2 point because they were "too easy." Yet, I also earned 4 pts. per question for at least two. Where's the consistency, dude? Also, they are strict about spelling, which wouldn't usually be a problem but, here's a hint: It's Jessie's Girl, not Jesse's Girl.

Oh, I got a 50, which I have to say is better than I thought I would get.

I'm such a sap

I cry so easily at movies. Not intense sobbing or wailing or anything, more just tearing up... but there I was yesterday watching The Iron Giant, an animated movie from 1999 and I frigging started to cry! Not only is it animated, but it's about a gigantic robot made of steel that needs to munch on steel in order to survive and is presumably from outer space - so you really can't get as far away from reality as that - and yet, I still got sucked in... I'm so pathetic :-)

Library news

First of all, I suppose I should comment on the new U.S. News & World Report Graduate School rankings, which lists Syracuse's Library & Information Science program as third best - the same ranking it's been for years. Also, the Digital Librarianship program - which is technically what I am in now - ranks second. Here's the school's press release about it. As if that was all I needed to help me get a job. It is probably good timing, though.

Secondly, I found this Web site that lists the "favorite" books by celebrities. This librarian in Maine compiles a list every year. The celebrities are browseable by name so theoretically, a person could find their favorite famous person and read the books they choose! It's kind of a neat idea.

No aqua

I woke up yesterday with the plan to go to campus and get some reading done in the morning before having to leave for the field trip to the Rochester Public Library at 1:30 but when I got up, our apartment had no water! Ugh. That makes showering a little difficult. So I waited a bit, had some breakfast, waited a bit, checked my email, waited a bit... I kept waiting because I could hear someone (the landlord?) working on the situation so I thought it would possibly be resolved soon. By about 11:30am, I had figured out how to brush my teeth and wash my face with bottled water. I also decided that I should just go without a shower, but I really didn't think I could go without washing my hair. I get horrible bedhead and it really isn't salvagable without water. So I pulled more bottled water out of my refrigerator, grabbed the tub that I wash hand-washables in and set to work drenching my head with freezing cold water. Washing my hair that way was surprisingly successful.

Of course, by the time I left for school, the water was back working.

I've got personality...

In class on Monday night, our professor had us take this personality test. It's an offshoot of the Myers-Briggs test and it was called the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. I guess the idea is that you take this, are given a personality type and then can help choose the best career path for your type. So, I scored as an INFJ. She had small blurbs for us to read about ourselves in class but I was not that impressed that it fit me. So, yesterday I poked around on the Internet a little and found another, very similar test that I took and, what do you know, tested as an INFJ again. Okay, so I'm an INFJ. From there, I found a site that explains that type in much greater detail and I think it is really me! What I liked best is that the INFJ type is apparently quite rare, with less than 2% of the population fitting into this category.

My "True Love" zodiac match

This has been sitting as a 'draft' in here for a few days. I don't know why I didn't post it at the time (probably absent-mindedness) but I'm going to post it now. Elizabeth sent me this link to find out my true love match zodiac sign... so I took the test and scored Taurus. Yeah. Sure. I think the one Taurus in particular that I know now would disagree with that. And I think the part about my "honesty and direct approach" is exactly what scares the hell out of him. But, it's fun to take those tests!

Your True Love Is a Taurus

Why you'll love a Taurus: Romantic and sentimental, a Taurus can provide you with the security you need. And you both share a fondness for the finest things, from great food to luxury vacations. Why a Taurus will love you: You have the honesty and direct approach that down to earth Taurus desires. And enough elegance to show a Taurus a few new decadent delights!

What Sign Is Your True Love?

Words of the Day

I haven't been posting much but I've been collecting some of my 'Words of the Day' to post on here in the hope that I may someday use them...

OBNUBILATE
v: to becloud, obscure

ZEITGEBER
n : an environmental agent or event that provides the stimulus setting or resetting a biological clock of an organism

SUPERBITY
n : haughtiness, arrogance

PERTINACIOUS
adj 1: adhering resolutely to an opinion or purpose 2: stubbornly unyielding or tenacious

TARADIDDLE
n 1: a fib 2: pretentious nonsense

New Gilmore Girls!

I don't know what I've been up to that has prevented me from posting much lately but I'll share that I'm excited about a new episode of Gilmore Girls finally airing tonight! Yay!

Nielsen family

I got this postcard in the mail the other day telling me my household has been selected to be a Nielsen family! They promised a call within the next few days providing more details. I know it sounds a little goofy, but I've always wanted to have my television viewing tracked like that, mostly because I idealized that I would watch the shows that were about to be cancelled and change the network's minds. It's ironic that the time I get the chance is also when I'm a grad student with no money so I don't even have cable and barely get the standard five channels. Not to mention that I watch so little television these days...

Back to school

Last week was spring break and I guess I took advantage of it and did absolutely NOTHING during the whole week. I had an assignment due last Sunday and once I got that done, I decided the best use of my time would be to watch a lot of movies, read, drink alcohol almost every day and basically do nothing. It was actually a really nice break but kind of stupid on my part. I have a lot of homework due this next week or so and should have been trying to get ahead, right? I did manage to apply for a couple jobs over this past weekend, though, including what I really might call my dream job at NBC Universal. I want that job so badly!!

Word of the Day: Poltroon

Poltroon

def: a spiritless coward: craven

Here's a word I've never heard before and is interesting to me. I have to say I've been pretty disappointed with my word-of-the-day calendar lately. Words like gargoyle, arbitrary, jubilate, stoic and shopaholic... these are the words that have come to my email the last week. Are these words new to anyone? I guess my expectations for a word-of-the-day calendar are too high!

It's official...

I got my diploma in the mail yesterday!! I have to say that it was pretty cool to see my name on it and the whole 'Masters of Library and Information Science' on it.

Even if I am pursuing further education and am so bogged down by school...

Yay for me!

Dreaming

I just read this book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, and in it she states that no one ever wants to hear your dreams unless they are in them, and while that might be true, here goes anyway...

I had this bizarre dream last night where I was in a class and apparently I had a group presentation due that day but had no idea until the prof called off the names of the students who were supposed to be presenting that day. I heard my name and was like "What?!" The group itself - which consisted of an unbelieveable 12 people, at least - had all met and organized the entire thing without trying to get in touch with me at all. And to top it off, they were mad at me for blowing them off. There was another gal who was in the group but had done nothing too and we both were just shocked. We had missed the assignment totally. It was very surreal as we stood in the front of the classroom for like 20 minutes while our groupmates pulled out all the posters and index cards and other presentation materials (more than you can imagine) that showed they clearly had done a lot of work while the two of us stood there with nothing to contribute. It was horrible, really scary to be so unprepared.

I woke up convinced that there is some missing assignment that I am forgetting somewhere. But I really don't think there is. So, I wonder what I'm forgetting then. The dream has to mean something, right?

The one really weird thing is that although the prof for the class was one of the IST profs here in my department (although not one I've ever had for a class), the presentation was all about health foods.

Ask.com

Ask Jeeves has abandoned its butler and become Ask.com and now offers some new features. I played around with their mapping feature a little bit and it seems pretty cool. For one thing, you can ask for 'walking' directions rather than just driving directions. I am not sure that this capability is in any other mapping site and is certainly convenient. You can also just pick a point on the map and it calculates the address there. Also, the zooming in/zooming out feature is a sliding scale, rather than the preset 'city,' 'region,' etc... that are on Mapquest and Yahoo! Maps. I guess Google Maps features that too, but I personally hate Google Maps. I find that the directions they give are often horrible. One other thing I liked about Ask.com Maps is that it saves addresses for you along the lefthand side. So, if you want to go from point A to point B to point C but then also want to see how to go from point A to point C directly, this is much easier and viewable all at once.

Ask.com also apparently has a 'search desktop' feature, which apparently is all the rage these days. Google Desktop is a similar feature available. Personally, I don't have the need for this - yet.

The Ask.com toolbox is nice, too, and collapses if so desired. Its quicklink options are useful, in my opinion. Ask.com has, and who would have thought this possible, an even more streamlined and simple interface than Google does.

Wrong number

So I'm here in the computer lab on campus doing homework and job-searching when my phone rings. Okay, it happens. It's a 440 number, which means it's someone from Cleveland. Okay, it happens. I say "Hello" and the guy asks for "Cheri" (or "Sherry" or "Sherrie" or "Shari" possibly) and after some confusion, we realize that he has the wrong gal. I have to say that I've never had the experience of getting a wrong number where the person was actually looking for someone with my name. I imagine that happens more often with someone who is named like Bob or Mike, but, hmm, kinda weird.

Librarian at Subway

There's a job opening for a librarian at Subway. Yes, Subway, the restaurant chain. It's on this page. It's more of a librarian in the sense of organizer, someone to keep order of their records, rather than a librarian in the more scholarly sense of the word. Still, who knew Subway had librarians?

Busy bee

I haven't checked in here in over a week and well, that's because I'm bogged down with homework. And more homework. This is my hell week of the semester, with major assignments due in every class... luckily, it's come early this year and I really don't see any big problems for the rest of the semester. Things are spaced out well from here on out.

I am probably farther along with the assignments than I typically would be (since I am a top-notch procrastinator) but still have a bit to do, particularly for the 1-hour presentation I have Monday night. I hope to get a paper written tonight (it's actually written; it just needs to be reread/edited/improved) and another part of my PowerPoint presentation for my classification class done tonight and then the weekend will be spent finishing up that latter assignment and going crazy on the 1-hour presentation.

I've spent copious amounts of time on campus this week, taking advantage of the high-speed Internet access there, although I did decide on MSN dial-up service here at home. MSN offers 3 months free... and since I'll probably be moving in 3 months, it works out perfectly! Today, there has been major winds. leaving thousands and thousands of people in Syracuse without power - yep, I was one of them. My power went out at about 8:30am and, from my calculations, didn't come back on until about 5pm. I wonder what that means for my refrigerated items - luckily, I haven't been to the grocery store in weeks so there are few items in the refrigerator.

As if that wasn't enough drama, I've been highly distracted by a certain person who I have realized that I have a major crush on. There are self-help books for everything and I wonder if there is one entitled "How to get Over a Crush" or something like that because although I do subscribe to the theory that some crushes can be rather harmless and actually good for a person (say, for instance, my crush on Tom Cavanagh), this particular one that I find myself in the middle of is VERRRRY bad for me. Ugh.

Oh, and on top of that, I got rejected from two jobs this past week, too.

Good-bye AOL

My free AOL access finally came to an end, after seven months. That's not bad, considering it was only supposed to be for 50 days. But now I'm stuck trying to find another cheap option. Dial-up services are ridiculously expensive compared to DSL or cable modem services. I mean, I found a dial-up service for $28.95/month. Who would pay that for dial-up these days? I realize that some people still don't have access to any type of broadband... but still, there are cheaper dial-up options than that!!

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about cheap dial-up, let me know!

I know what I did last summer

In doing a post for one of my online classes, I found this link to a Library of Congress bulletin from October that has a story about the internship program I was in last summer. So here's the link to it. There is a picture of all of us interns, although I am barely visible in it. Tall people in the back, just like grade school.

Word of the Day: vade mecum

n *1: a book for ready reference : manual 2: something regularly carried about by a person

I thought this word - or phrase, technically - might be appropriate for a librarian so I'm putting it here to potentially remember it!

Librarian- Kuwait!

There is a job opening for a librarian in Kuwait (via Monster.com). Exclamation point theirs.

Great!! Let me send my resume!! I sure can't think of a more ideal place to work than the Middle East!

Here is an added bonus that I don't see on every job posting:

"Work Schedule: 48 hours per week, varied days. Some overtime may be required."

It's a 48-hour workweek and overtime is still required!!?!??

Nightmare

Not that I don't love my mom and all that but I can't imagine anything more unfun or dreadful than doing this when I was a child.

Bird crap

This will be a lovely topic.

Umm, so, in the parking lot for my apartment building, there were some parking spots that I immediately upon moving in marked as 'undesirable' and try my damndest to avoid. These spots are directly under trees where the quietest but apparently most full of shit birds reside. Therefore, when you go to your car after having parked there overnight, your car is marked with bird crap. Unfortunately, lately it seems that everyone in my building has made the same realizations and try hard to not park in those spots and I've been stuck with no other option!

Yesterday, I did not go anywhere and, therefore, my car stayed in the undesirable spot not just overnight but overnight twice!! When I got to my car this afternoon, there was SO MUCH bird crap on it that it looks like a white car, when actually it is dark blue. It's really disgusting. I'm just hoping it rains tomorrow like it says it is supposed to and some of the crap will "wash" off. Yuck.

Crash

I did get a chance to watch Crash today and it was a pretty good movie, I'll admit. It's one of those where everyone's lives intersect in some weird way and the people who are bad guys maybe really aren't all that bad and the people who are good guys are maybe really not all that great. It's realistic. There is also a LOT of racial slurring, which is supposed to make everyone stop and take notice, I guess. That's what the behind-the-scenes vignette told me. I mostly thought, "Wow, nice, the open-mindedness" (dripping with sarcasm, of course). I will say, though, that I am highly surprised that Matt Dillon got nominated for Best Supporting Actor from that film. It's not that he was awful; it's just that his role is really pretty small.

Oscar Time

The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning and, as usual, I have seen pretty much none of the nominated movies or performances. However, I do have a copy of Crash on DVD from the library right now so I hope to find a time to watch that in the next few days.

I did see War of the Worlds, which is nominated for three less prominent awards and which has earned Tom Cruise a Razzie nomination, for worst acting performance!!

Horrible book

I love to read books/short stories/plays that have been made into movies (preferrably before watching the movies), I guess to note the differences and try to figure out why those differences were made - to try to get in the creative mind of the filmmaker. Nine times out of ten, the book is way better than the movie. I mean, there is just a LOT that has to be cut out of a book to get it down to approximately two hours and rarely is one able to get attached to the characters in a movie like one can in a book. Anyway, I read this book the last couple of days that HAS to be one of the few where the movie is way better. And I haven't even seen the movie yet.

I'm talking about Just Like Heaven, which is a little romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. It comes out on video/DVD next week and it turns out it was based on a book called If Only It Were True by Marc Levy. I found this out and the book was only 229 pages so I thought it would be a pretty quick read and I requested it from the library. Not only was it a quick read, but it was also an awful read. I don't remember reading a book so bad... since, well, some Christian fiction book one of my friends made me read when I was in a book club a couple years ago. Ugh.

The overall plot of the story is kind of interesting and romantic, I guess, but the writing is so corny and stupid that you just don't care. The auxiliary characters that are introduced are irritating. I swear the same dialogue is used over and over and over again... I could go on. Why didn't I just put the book down and not finish it, you ask? A valid question, to be sure, but it was such a fast read that I figured I might as well get to the end - even though the end was incredibly predictable. I just cannot fathom how this stupid novel became an "international bestseller" as it claims OR how the author got what undoubtedly was a huge sum to have this drivel turned into a movie. Ironically though, I'm sure it will make a decent movie, though. It's one of those books that seems like it was written all along with the intent of being made into a movie, with even the author writing as if he was transcribing a movie.

Busy busy

I have no idea what I have been up to this past week but here I sit on a Sunday, having spent hours and hours in the computer lab to try to catch up on all my homework for the week. While I did manage to get the minimum assignments and postings for my two online courses completed today (the week ends on Sundays for these classes), I did NOT do all the reading that I am supposed to be doing. And I haven't even started the readings for my class that meets tomorrow night. Oy. I can't believe how far behind I already am in my classes and it's only the third week of school. Luckily, one benefit of not having a job is that I have free time.

I did apply for a couple jobs this past week, which I guess is what accounts for me being so behind on homework. Job-searching is more important to me than homework right now. However, I have not heard a thing from any of the jobs I have applied for so that is pretty frustrating. But it takes time, they say.

This week: more job stuff and maybe not only get caught up in my work but get ahead!?! Crazy thought.

Now I have a TV network named after me!

The big television news announced today (via TV Guide Online) is that the WB and UPN will merge in September and be called CW. The CW stands for CBS Warner apparently. Now the big question is which programming from both networks will make it to the new network. They say that my favorite Gilmore Girls is safe. Phew!

Animals running in front of me

I'm not even exaggerating but I counted SIX animals running in front of my car yesterday during the course of the day and it just seems like that would indicate bad luck or something. There were three cats, two squirrels and a skunk (I think, although honestly I don't even know what it was!!). None of the cats were black, although the squirrels were and presumably the skunk was, too, although that happened late at night and it was hard to determine its color. And, also, I didn't hit any of them.

Anyway, it was just weird, even if it isn't an indicator of bad luck....

Daymare

Today's word is 'daymare' which is pretty self-explanatory but not something I knew was really ever a word before.

daymare: n : a nightmarish fantasy experienced while awake

Isn't that just a bad daydream?

Dancing with the Stars spoiler...

I kind of get sucked in to that silly Dancing with the Stars show every Thursday because I really wish I could dance like that. I did force myself to go out last night before it was over, although I recorded it and watched the rest when I got home.

Anyway, so they have the dancing on Thursday nights and the elimination show on Friday nights. I know they advertise the Thursday show as being 'LIVE' and I just assumed this was also true of the Friday show. I honestly didn't really know or care. I haven't even watched the elimination show because it's just filled with fluff until the very last second when they announce who is voted off - just like the American Idol elimination show.

However, when checking some sites this evening, I found out that the name of the next person voted off is already on the Internet. It's this person here apparently going home. Or else it's just a coincidence that that person is going to be a guest on Regis & Kelly Monday morning - the same show that has featured the castoffs on Monday morning for the last two weeks. I'm guessing if ABC was aware that Regis & Kelly were advertising the name of the next castoff on their site before the results show airs, they would probably not be happy.

I know I have no money...

BUT I went to the mall today hoping to buy a calendar marked down to $3 (Waldenbooks drops them to $4 now - it used to be $3, but I guess I understand inflation.) but instead went into stores like The Gap, H&M and American Eagle. I bought this really cute skirt at American Eagle for $4.95. Come on, it was cute, it was a small size (a size I haven't worn in years), it fit and it was $5! I tell myself that once (if) I get a library job, it will be good to have some skirts. Although, miniskirts... not so much. This one isn't that short but it is above the knees.

But it was cute! And it was $5!!

HDTV blog

I found this article via TV Tattle that talks about a man's cat being into HDTV - sitting in front of and sometimes even touching the TV screen when a HD program is on. Seems he's not alone to have pets fond of HDTV. It was a cute article, complete with pictures of the fascinated cat. That site is also one of those ones with articles on which celebrities look good and which look AWFUL when broadcast on HDTV. Potmarks, agelines, blemishes, acne, etc... all show up on faces on HDTV. I find it fascinating to hear who looks bad, but I don't get too much joy out of it knowing full well that my face would look awful too!

Whinge

This is another word of the day that I might try to incorporate into my vocabulary...

whinge

v : to complain fretfully : whine

Here's me using the word in a sentence: At work on Saturday, my two co-workers whinged incessentantly about their depression.

First Day of School

Yes, today is the first day of classes for the Spring Semester. I successfully registered for three classes on Sunday morning, although I probably only will take two and will end up dropping one soon. After looking at who else is in my classes (just about the first thing I always do once the classes are loaded into my WebCT account), I am about 99.99% certain that I will in fact drop the class I'd been planning to drop. Way too many annoying people in there. However, there still raises the question about whether or not I should stay in the on-campus 'Digital Libraries' course. It's required for this certificiate program and it's better to get it out of the way as soon as possible but by taking it this semester, it means I must basically remain in Syracuse until May (or if I were to get a job elsewhere, I would have to figure something out with the professor to finish the course elsewhere... or just drop the course without a refund... yes, there are some options).

So Much to Watch, All on One Night

Tonight is a big TV night for me! Gilmore Girls is on as usual and that is already definitely one of my favorite shows, not to mention it's a high-drama episode tonight. Also, Love Monkey debuts tonight and I'm excited to watch that as I've had a major crush on Tom Cavanagh since the promos of Ed started airing back in like 1999 or 2000 or whenever it was. Also, American Idol is back tonight. Although that is definitely not one of my favorites (especially after recapping it last year for Inside Pulse), I do tend to watch it when nothing else is on and the episodes in the beginning of the season are always the best to watch anyway.

So, anyway, I'll be glued in front of the television tonight. Although perhaps I should be starting my homework...

Syracuse 80, Connecticut 88

The basketball game last night was kind of fun and all but boy, did the team suck. If you look just at the score, you will be sorely misled and think it was kind of a close game but it wasn't at all. Connecticut came out to a 12-0 lead and then pretty much led the entire game by at least that much, usually twice as much. It wasn't until about three minutes to go at the end that Syracuse pulled within ten points. But oh well, it was my first SU basketball game, my first time in the Carrier Dome and only my second major Division I college basketball game ever (that I remember...)!

Basketball game

Tonight, my friends & I are going to the SU basketball game vs. UConn. It'll be on ESPN tonight so look for me! Honestly, though, while our seats are not that great and the Carrier Dome is a pretty large arena, we do plan on going all out with painted faces and all the orange we can wear so maybe the cameras will find us!!

Dateless

Hmm, I wonder if there is any correlation between me always being dateless and me enjoying sitting home alone on a Saturday night watching the US National Figure Skating Championships?

Certificate of Advanced Studies

I've been considering pursuing this Certificate of Advanced Studies in Digital Libraries now that I'm finished with my Master's Degree and there are a few reasons for this:

1.) I had no idea that there really was such a program when I entered the Master's program and to pursue it simultaneously with the Master's Degree, every single elective must be Digital Libraries-related.

2.) The classes in this certificate program actually sound interesting and helpful and I've heard - from people in the classes - that this is true.

3.) Many, many job postings that I've seen ask for some element taught in this program.

4.) Pursuing further education lets me get more federal financial aid, which can help me pay my rent as I job search.

5.) The program can be entirely completed online and is only 15 extra credits for me, so I could fit this in with a job anywhere in the world.

So, all things considered, I haven't totally decided what to do, although I am leaning in that direction. Registration is not until Sunday. However, I was invited to and attended the new student orientation yesterday for all new students. I am considered a new student since I officially graduated. Anyway, I went out of curiosity, to see what they told the newbies, to see a few friends I knew would be working, to get free food and to hopefully kiss ass of the professor of the one class I want to take. Check, check, check, check. Everything was accomplished. But, what also was accomplished was that I got so pissed off at the ass-backwards way the school conducts things. They throw all this random information at the students in the most ridiculous order and format and then usher them off into advising sessions. They are told how to register and what they should register for... then they have to wait three days before they can do it. Then, because there is a holiday on Monday, if there are any problems, these can't be addressed until Tuesday. It's just ridiculous. What would be so awful about allowing registration to start earlier? What would be so awful about leading the groups to a computer lab and letting them register immediately after the orientation? There are just so many things about the way the program was organized that it made me so mad! So, yes, this really does make me rethink giving more money to this school!!

Abulia

n : abnormal lack of ability to act or to make decisions

I signed up to get one of those 'learn a new word each day' calendar kind of things delivered by email every day and never have I come across a new word that seemed so fitting for me!!

Close call... but I'm still not paying for Internet access!!

I've had AOL since early June now and haven't had to pay a dime for it. I got it free for whatever it was, 50 days or something with one of those 'try it free' disks that are everywhere. After the fifty days were up, I was able to con them into giving it to me free for another month... and another... and another... and another. Tonight, I thought I was in trouble and that my lucky streak had ended because I got someone new on the line. She said she had only been there about a month. Oy. She didn't really seem to know what she was doing yet and didn't even know all of the price plans to suggest to me (which I would then turn down, saying they were all too expensive...). She put me on hold for a significant length of time twice, all the while I kept thinking, 'She better offer me free service for another month after all this waiting.' I was worried, though, that she wouldn't be able to offer me free service. I mean, I wouldn't think a newbie would be able to just give it to me for free without checking with her boss. And, in fact, after talking to her boss, she came back to tell me that I should sign up for the Verizon Broadband package because even if I move, I can just take it with me. Umm, sure, if that place offers Verizon. I'm not convinced that the entire country has Verizon phone service available to it. Anyway, finally, she realized that the best thing to do would to just give it to me free for another month and went ahead and did that. Phew. I was really worried there for a few minutes.

Report card

I got my grades in the mail today and for the four courses I technically took in the fall, I got four grades. Well, duh, of course, you might say... except that one of those courses is the internship I'm finishing up at the med school library. Finishing up - in other words, not completed yet.

If I already have a grade, should I continue showing up?

Oops, wrong number

So, when I got back into town, I had an answering machine message and I thought perhaps it would be about the job I'd interviewed for mid-December but nope, the message went a little something like this:

"Hi Jessica, it's me Kevin, so now you can't say I didn't call you. I'm kind of sorry we're not matching up here so I'll try to call you later in the week. If not, send me an email, okay?"

Umm, guess what Kevin? Jessica can totally say that you didn't call because you didn't get her number right! Or maybe Jessica fudged her number on purpose... Hmm. This message made me curious on so many levels, starting with the fact that Kevin's voice sounded SO much like this guy I dated here. In fact, I thought it was him at first and was really confused. But I soon realized that it wasn't him but just another dopey guy.

Back in Syracuse

My ten days home went pretty quickly and now I'm back for my second full day in Syracuse. While I was home, I managed to see a few friends, hang out with my parents, see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew and celebrate Christmas, New Year's and an Ohio State Bowl game victory. All in all, a pretty good vacation. The one thing I did not do that I had planned on doing was apply for jobs, since my parents only have Microsoft Works on their computer. (Not that I find anything wrong with any of the Microsoft products at all, Mr. Gates.) But really that was just an excuse because I could have easily used that or gone elsewhere (like a library). I doubt that most companies do a whole lot of resume-viewing and interview-conducting during the last two weeks of the year, anyway.

When I got home Tuesday evening at about 7pm (after making AWESOME time), I went into ultra housekeeping mode and scrubbed floors, cleaned the bathroom, reorganized my closet, reorganized my kitchen cabinets and did some furniture re-arranging. I have NO idea what got into me, but it's nice to have a productive time like that once in a while. Yesterday, I had to work. I want to finish up those damn internship hours ASAP, I'm not even kidding.