So, today did not go as planned....

It was kind of a bummer of a day today. First, I woke up not feeling very well so I stayed in bed a little later than planned. Then, I checked my email and had gotten an email from a place I applied - Vanderbilt University - wanting to set up a phone interview today. Umm, that's a lot of notice! Not. So, I emailed them back and I had a couple hours to get ready for it. In the meantime, I called back the woman from the county library system where I had interviewed last week. And, let's all say it together, I got rejected. It sounds like I was the runner-up and they went with someone who already works in the county system at another branch so it was pretty much a no-shot-in-hell opportunity but I did think they really liked me and were considering me. Not. Then, the librarians at Vanderbilt called and I totally bombed the interview. I just did not do well and I know it. I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do to fix it but I do hope they take into consideration that I had such short notice, because I would really relish that opportunity. But, probably not. Finally, I checked my other email and had gotten a note from eBay announcing that there was a discount on insertion fees so I thought it would be a good day to put stuff up on eBay. Umm, a good idea, I suppose, but it took me like 6 hours to put up like 10 or 12 items just because of a slow Internet connection as well as gathering information and cropping pictures for the ads. Let's hope I make some money, though! But again, probably not!

The Wheaton College Community Covenant

I saw this job posting for a cataloging librarian at Wheaton College, which is outside Chicago. What caught my eye was that the job description mentions that "Wheaton College is an evangelical protestant Christian liberal arts college whose faculty members affirm a Statement of Faith and the moral and lifestyle expectations of our Community Covenant." Intruiged, I clicked on the link provided to read more about this "Community Covenant." Seems that all members of the college community (students, staff & faculty) have to agree to follow the expected lifestyle of a true Christian. In other words, no tobacco use, no alcohol, no dishonesty, no slander, no gossip, no vulgar or obscene language, no premarital sex, no behavior or entertainment that would be considered "immodest, sinfully erotic, or harmfully violent." That's just the highlights. Interesting, no doubt, but definitely not the right place for me.

"Your clothes are on, so I don't see the problem"

The headline caught my eye first, something about a school dance being cancelled for fear of 'grinding' and then 'upstate New York' caught my eye so I read the entire story. Turns out not only is it upstate New York, but it's the Fayetteville-Manlius High School, which is a suburb of Syracuse and a city I know quite well. After all, that's where a Target is! And I have a few friends who work (have worked) at the Fayetteville Free Library. It's the upscale suburb, I guess. While I'm not sure I agree with cancelling a dance because of potential dancing techniques - the kids in the article are kind of right - but I know if I was still in high school, I wouldn't be too devastated about the cancellation of a dance considering I rarely went to school dances and when I did, they were one of the worst, most miserable experiences of my life.

Family Guy episodes

You guys may remember that I found this Web site a few months ago that has links to all the episodes of South Park and I was pretty excited by that. Well, now I found a similar one with links to all the episodes of Family Guy!

I LOVE watching TV on the Web.

Word of the day: maffick

v : to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior

My sentence using maffick: Thanks to the awesome victory pulled out by the Buckeyes yesterday, there was much mafficking by fans!

Go Buckeyes!

It's a HUGE game today at 3:30. I'm psyched... and nervous. Go Ohio State!

Grey's Anatomy

I know I haven't posted much about television topics lately even though ironically the whole reason I started this blog was to supplement my InsidePulse TV column... Do not fret, I still watch too much TV!

I came across a couple of Grey's Anatomy-related tidbits today (via TV Tattle) that I found interesting. One: Next week's episode, airing on Thanksgiving Day, is going to run an extra ten minutes long. Luckily, I already checked my DVR and it's set to record until 10:10pm. Phew. Two: Rob Lowe turned down the role of Derek Shepherd, aka Dr. McDreamy! I just cannot imagine Rob Lowe in that role.

Feeling better about turning down the offer

Immediately after I turned down the job offer I got last week, I started to regret it and think that I had made a mistake. As was evidenced in this post from the other day... However, after talking to one of my friends yesterday and explaining to him why I didn't take it, I felt like my points were really valid and that maybe I did make the right decision after all. He seemed to agree with me despite the fact that both of us are desperately searching for jobs still and keep saying we'll take anything.

The other reason I'm starting to feel better about the whole thing is that they reposted the job opening on Craigslist and they really downgraded the expectations. It no longer says anything about even needing a Master's degree and they will in fact consider someone with only an Associate's degree! No longer does it say 'Librarian' but it merely says 'Library Assistant'. I'm sure they did this to potentially get more interested candidates, but also, if they are willing to downgrade the educational requirements so much, then clearly they realize that you do not need a Master's degree to do the job. That was one of my 'cons' on my list when debating what to do, too. I felt that I was smarter than the job.

Word of the day: sop

n : a conciliatory or propitiatory bribe, gift, or gesture

My sentence using sop: I think my interview at the public library went well and I did not even have to offer the branch manager a sop to get her to like me.

Post-interview report

Well, I think the interview at the public library branch went pretty well yesterday. Then again, I always seem to think that. Seriously, how do you know when an interview doesn't go well? They aren't going to ask you to leave before it's over or anything obvious like that.

One minor annoyance, if you can call it that, was that they seemed to be asking me the same questions over and over in different ways. "Tell me about a time when you overcame a difficult situation at work and what happened." "Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a challenging situation and how it was resolved." "Tell me about a time when you had trouble working in a group." "Tell me about a time when you faced some miscommunication with a co-worker and how you resolved it." "Tell me about a time when you corrected someone else's mistake and how you handled it." I don't know but aren't all those questions basically the same?
The one good thing is that as I was leaving I saw someone I used to work with and he apparently works there and has for two years. He really likes it there so that's somewhat encouraging. We talked a little bit about the things we both didn't like at our old job and how this one is different (quite different, it seems). On top of all that, maybe he'll actually put in a good word for me!

Choosing a book to read

A nifty Web site conveniently called Whichbook gives readers some choices on finding a book to read based on their desires. Different criteria are presented along a continuum. The reader chooses four criteria, places the indicator somewhere along the continuum (for instance, between happy and sad, funny and serious, long and short, expected and unpredictable) based on their feelings and a list of books appears. For instance, you might choose you want a book that is pretty happy but also very violent and unusual. Put in those indices and a list of books appear!

#1 Ranking

I have an interview tomorrow at one of the branches in the county library system here. Although this would hardly be my dream job either, the thought of working there gave me a little more excitement today as I realized the system is ranked #1 in the country in the annual Hennen's American Public Library Ratings list, which ranks public libraries on fifteen factors, including reference service, circulation statistics, hours open and funding. See here. If I have to work for a public library, it would be nice to work for one of the best, right?

Huge mistake?

So, I turned down the job offer I had. I can't help but think it will turn out to be a huge mistake on my part but I was so torn and so confused and so unsure about the whole thing and I felt that if it were really the right move to make (taking it, that is), wouldn't it be an easy decision to make? I'm not sad that I turned it down but I will become sad if I don't get any other offers in the near future. I'm just sick of applying for jobs and sick of being in debt and sick of not working. I'm sick of waiting, too, because I've felt like I've been waiting for something for three years. First, I was waiting for grad school to start... then I was waiting for it to finish... and now I've been waiting to find the right job. But, anyway, just because I'm sick of all those things, does it mean I should just accept any old job that is offered to me, regardless of how awful and boring and monontonous it is? I say 'no', which is why I turned down the job.

Election day quiz: Who should you have voted for in 2004?

Should have? Or did?

You Should Have Voted For Kerry

Though You'd Rather Vote for Michael Moore

Who Should You Have Voted For in 2004?

Interview updates

I got an offer from the place I interviewed in D.C. on Friday. However, I do not yet know what the offer is as I haven't been able to connect with the woman. She simply mentioned in the email that she wanted to make me an offer.

In the mean time, I got a call for an interview at one of the local public library branches here in Cleveland. This was the one where I recently thought I had done pretty poorly on the test. I guess I was wrong about that, so that's pretty exciting! That interview is next Tuesday.

And, in related news, I am continuing to write cover letters for jobs that sound interesting. There is a job for an indexing/abstracting librarian at the National Security Archive that I have to say would be perfect for me. I hope I didn't just jinx it!

Election day

Currently reading

I added a new header to my sidebar labeled "Currently reading" in which I will put a link to the book I'm currently reading. Clever wording there, eh? I'm not sure why or if anyone cares what I'm currently reading and it is by no means an endorsement of that book (in fact, the book I'm reading now [Why Moms are Weird] is pretty annoying to me, yet I read on). It was added more because I feel all happy and proud with myself when I am able to make changes on this blog. Like last week, I was unhappy with the title area for each post and decided to put a box around them so they would stand out more. I'm about 10% technologically savvy, despite what my resume says. I'd like that to be a lot higher but slow and steady wins the race - or so I hear - so I'll just learn one small thing at a time for now.

I'm trying to think of other sidebar labels to add, like 'Currently watching' or something like that but it doesn't seem as appropriate, since what I watch changes daily while what I read usually changes weekly (or monthly). If anyone has any ideas, let me know...

Jaunt to D.C.

So I'm back after 48 hours in D.C. and I'm still jobless. I think the woman who would be my boss really liked me and, if it's up to her, would hire me. I dazzled her with my knowledge of medical databases and information retrieval issues. She showed me all around the office and where I would work and we even talked so much that the other two involved in the interview (from the companies who hold the government contract for the reference staff) left us there to continue while they went home for the weekend. The woman I met with first, from the company who would hire me, seemed to like me also although she wanted to make it clear that, from what she's heard, this job is not "challenging" or full of "variety" - two things I said I was looking for in a job. Of course, this woman knows nothing about librarianship and hires people for all kinds of jobs. In her own words, she hires people who seem to be good workers and good employees, regardless of what job they do. So I figured she didn't know. Talking to the woman who would be my boss made things much clearer, however, when she said that the contractors are compeletely blended, although they are not eligible for any of the on-site benefits like the gym or the child care facilities, and that the job is often described as monontonous. Hmm, how exciting that sounds! She said that many complain there is no variety and that they grow sick of answering the phones non-stop and providing stock answers to all of the email questions. Apparently they get a lot of the same questions over and over and over and over and over again. So you see, she did a fantastic job of trying to sell me on the job. To her credit, she said she wanted to be honest and upfront and give me an idea of what to expect but all I could think was, "I did not go to library school to come work for a call center" which is what I got the feeling that was. I may not know a lot of what I want out of job (and out of life) but I do know what I don't want and I don't want to sit around a cubicle all day waiting for a phone to ring. Especially not with a fairly low salary and she told me that the pay would be in the $30,000s but no higher. Therefore, even if they do call me with an offer and even though I'm sick to death of being unemployed and of sending out cover letters and resumes, I just do not see me accepting this.

Word of the day: nabob

n : a person of great wealth or prominence

My sentence using nabob: This job-searching stuff is getting tiresome; how I wish I could find a fantastic nabob to marry so I could settle for a part-time job and spend the rest of my time volunteering for a great charity or non-profit organization.

My name is not Cheryl

It occurred to me over the weekend, when I was driving home from DC perhaps, that no one - particularly potential employers - seems able to get my name right. In the last couple of months of job-searching, I have been called all kinds of names that are not Cheri. My name is not Cheryl or Chris or Cindy or Jerri or Cherree or Cherry. It's Cheri, pronounced the same as the more obvious Sherry or, for those who are not familiar with that name either, think of share - eee.

Now, I understand the pronunciation of Cherree or Cherry and those honestly do not bother me. Cheryl is understandable - kind of - since my middle name does start with an "L". Therefore, people see Cheri L. and I guess miss the space between the i and the L. However, when I write an email to someone and sign it with Cheri (of course), I find it irksome that they respond by calling me Cheryl. Cindy is just plain inexcusable, in my opinion. Chris is actually not something I have encountered recently but I used to get that a lot when I was younger. Now, Jerri is what I was called by the one woman who interviewed me on Friday and while I guess it's a simple mistake, I still think it's totally rude for a prospective employer to not bother to try to remember my name. If I as a prospective employee called someone by the wrong name, I'm pretty sure it would be remembered and held against me.

Thank you. Rant complete.

Off to the nation's capital

I have a job interview in Washington, DC, on Friday so I made my hotel reservation just a little bit ago. I'm very happy to be paying $75/night for the hotel, which looks to be pretty nice. I was expecting the cheapest hotel in DC to be at least $100/night. There were some that were a tad cheaper (like in the $60s) but they looked a little sketchy to me so I think the small bit more to pay will be well worth it. At the last minute I decided to stay for two nights. It's going to basically be an all-day thing on Friday, with me meeting someone at 12:30pm and then someone else at 2pm, so I worried about running into a lot of Friday night traffic if I left after the interview. This way I won't have to worry and can have a relaxing and enjoyable night in the hotel on Friday night with maybe a nice swim in the indoor pool or some room service. Okay, the pool part could happen but the room service thing is probably out of my budget. It will be more like stopping at the grocery store and heating up a frozen entree in the room's microwave!

This interview seems promising but I'm so doubtful about the whole job-finding thing now. This job is as a reference librarian at the National Library of Medicine - which sounds pretty cool, right? Right. But I wouldn't be a National Library of Medicine employee because the government contracts out those positions. I would technically be an employee of this other company then. So that could be a good thing - or a bad thing. I'm not sure. I guess I will see on Friday.

Daily Show clips online

Clips of The Daily Show's visit to Ohio this week (which I mentioned a couple of days ago) are available online for those without Comedy Central. The entire show is apparently available, although in parts, it looks like. The link is this, with the clips to be found along the right side.

What should I be for Halloween?

Not that I'm going to be wearing a costume for anything this year (thank God, I hate dressing up), but I thought it appropriate to take the Blogthings quiz and get an answer:

Your Halloween Costume Should Be

Candy Corn

What Should You Be For Halloween?

Happy Halloween!

Battlefield Ohio

As election time gears up, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show are spending the week doing shows from the great state of Ohio! Tonight's guest: Lebron James.

"Most reliable search tool...

... could be your librarian." Here's a nice article reaffirming the importance of librarians.

Lingerie librarian?

While no one seems to want to hire me as a librarian, Victoria's Secret seemed willing to hire me today. I went into the nearby store to get more free panties and while they were trying to sell me additional merchandise, I mentioned that I was unemployed and had no money. Suddenly, they were practically begging me to come work for them. The discount is 30% off of Victoria's Secret merchandise and 20% off of Bath & Body Works and Express merchandise (and The Limited merchandise, I assume?) . Also, I guess they hire people to work in their back room keeping things organized, stocked and steamed. I am considering filling out the application since it would be nice to bring in SOME money, but I'm slightly deterred by a few things. One, I really don't much like Victoria's Secret items - unless they are giving them to me for free and then I can deal. Two, wouldn't it be better to work someplace that the discount would be useful? Three, I've noticed that employees seem to have to wear nice black pants and black blazers which is a kind of expensive investment for a job that will likely not even pay me $7/hr.

Word of the day: sansculotte

n 1: an extreme radical republican in France at the time of the Revolution
2: a radical or violent extremist in politics

My sentence using sansculotte: Election day is approaching and, although I'm undecided about who will get my vote in some races, I will not vote for a sansculotte.

Failed another test

I probably didn't fail it, but I don't think I did too well on it either. This was another mandatory testing for a Librarian I position at the local county library system. The last test I took - for a different branch - was very heavy on the reader's advisory questions, asking to name authors in different fiction genres and to name books I would recommend as well as the title of the latest Harry Potter book. Since I didn't do as well on those topics as I might have liked, that is where I focused my studying before today's test. Oops. Apparently, reader's advisory is not important at this branch. All of the questions were on resources today. Name two print resources for medicine; name two print resources for music; name an online resource for biography and a sample question for which this source might be useful; name three ways one could find out the name of the president of Viacom; name three sources for legal information, particularly Ohio law, etc... Ugh, so I did not do well at all. I was not prepared to have to rattle off the names of dozens of different resources. I really do not understand this kind of testing. The only type of question that makes sense to me is the one about the president of Viacom, which is more about the process of finding the answer than rattling off the titles of a book or a Web site. I could have wonderful, useful, informative Web sites bookmarked on my browser and know how to use them but would not be able to tell you the exact name of them. Likewise, I could know very well how to find an answer to a medical question without knowing the exact title of the book that gives me the information. I find the whole testing process completely frustrating and aggravating and I suppose that it's good that I do not pass to the interview stage or I might be a bitter employee right from the start.

Duke lacrosse scandal

60 Minutes did a piece this week on the alleged rape by the Duke lacrosse players that resulted in their season being cancelled this past spring. It was a really interesting piece and is kind of mystifying that the D.A. seems to think he has a case. I know I'm no legal expert but I cannot imagine a judge not throwing the case out of court - there seems to be no proof that these men are guilty. One of the guys has proof via phone records, a taxi driver and surveillance tape from an ATM that he wasn't even at the party during the time the alleged rape occurred. Certainly this guy could not have attacked her; yet he is one of the three suspects. Also, one of the partygoers was apparently a Jimmy Olsen-in-training and there are many time-stamped photographs from the evening showing what was going on and it doesn't seem to mesh with her story, either. Finally, the alleged victim's co-stripper, who was at the party with her, pretty much says the girl is lying. Mind-boggling. Anyway, the CBS News site has a ton of video from their story.

Word of the day: peregrination

n : an excursion especially on foot or to a foreign country : journey

My sentence using peregrination: On Thursday, I plan a peregrination back to Syracuse, New York, to fetch some of my belongings.

Free in-house cafeteria

Part of job searching is looking at the benefits offered with a position and some places offer a lot sweeter benefit packages than others. I would rather take 24 days paid time off annually than 14, for instance. And who wouldn't? But, this job in Atlanta boasts a 'free in-house cafeteria'! Not having to worry about lunch every day? Awesome.

The Quick & Dirty Career Test

After getting yet another rejection today, I thought this was an appropriate test to take and surprisingly, the results indicate I'm on the right track.

Your Career Personality: Idealistic, Service-Oriented, and Future-Oriented

Your Ideal Careers: Alternative health practitioner Architect Environmental lawyer Librarian Magazine editor Museum curator Novelist Nutritionist Photo journalist Playwright

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

Google products

Some of these are kind of funny - new types of searches that Google should create.

Online TV

My latest addiction (although that's a bit of an overstatement) is online TV viewing. All of the major broadcast networks are streaming some of their shows online, usually available the day after they air on television. What's nice about this is that you can catch episodes that you may have wanted to catch but missed when they aired. It also basically eliminates the need for a Tivo/DVR/VCR recording device. And, it's free, did I mention that? Of course there are services like iTunes where you can pay, usually $1.99 an episode, for the same thing but I doubt anyone would argue that free isn't better. I've watched episodes of (or parts of episodes, anyway) Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Survivor, The Biggest Loser, Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Cribs over the last month.

I've sort of been looking for a good web site that provides links to all the places one can view shows online and haven't found anything exactly to my liking (perhaps I should make one of my own) but: TV Squad offers a list by network or site (AOL & Yahoo! offer some programs thanks to tie-ins with certain networks) and TV Guide Online offers a daily blog listing some of the best online TV viewing of the day.

With that all being said, as far as the major networks go, I think the ABC service is the best by far. Not only can you watch past episodes (most of the other networks only let you watch the most current episode) but I also haven't had any streaming problems at all.

Word of the day: jawboning

n : the use of spoken persuasion

My sentence using jawboning: Hopefully, at the next job interview I have I can persuade them to hire me by some subtle jawboning.

Cover letter machine

I was a MACHINE yesterday and applied for seven jobs! That was definitely my best day ever and perhaps directly related to the fact that I am STILL unemployed. Of course, part of the reason for the high number for the day is because two of the jobs expect you to apply online via their special system and do not accept cover letters, only resumes. I've started to check that before taking the time to write a letter....

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!