Let the Internet Decide the Winner of your next Fight

SideTaker lets you air your dirty laundry online and lets outsiders decide who is right. Oh yeah, who doesn't want crazy Internet readers deciding that? Basically, you post your side of an argument. You get the other person to post their side and voila, the Internet plays judge and makes comments. An interesting idea. I wouldn't mind trying it out with a silly issue... but I know that Internet users can get quite passionate about things which they know nothing about, so that's the scary part. (via)

Back in NoVa

I'm back in northern Virginia after a 4-day trip back home to Cleveland. In Cleveland, I did a little shopping with my mom (of course), visited with my brother & his family (including newborn power sleeper Mia), caught up with some old friends, saw the Browns beat the defending Super Bowl champs, finished my book club book, and worked my way around the mess that is my parents' kitchen while they remodel it.

Back in Arlington, I came home to:
1.) a kitchen light that has all of its fluorescent bulbs burned out. Thanks roommate!
2.) a book club that has been postponed for two weeks - to a date that I can't make. Thanks for making me read a book I didn't enjoy for nothing!
3.) the girl I manage back to her old ways of doing absolutely nothing. She was gone for about two weeks dealing with the death of her father and had a really productive first day and a half. Now she's returned to her useless ways.

Book Club: Shattered Dreams

I've been meaning for months to write entries after my book clubs meet but haven't done it. Today is different! On Sunday, my Bethesda Book Club (as I call it) read Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer. I had the opportunity to meet Irene at the ALA conference in Anaheim this June and she had offered me an hour of her time to talk to our book club and we finally made it happen. It was really awesome of her and seeings as how I'm already FASCINATED by polygamy, I was extra excited to try to get some insight into her life.

I'd already read a couple books about someone "trapped" in polygamy as part of the Fundamentalist Mormon Church so the lifestyle was not new to me, but what was new in Irene's story was that she talked a lot about sex! She was craving it constantly and well, when you share your husband with multiple wives and dozens of children, it should be no surprise that it doesn't happen often. Add to that the fact that technically, the religion believes that you only have sex to procreate and it should be no surprise that Irene was often lamenting the lack of love she received from her husband. Besides sex, she talked a lot about jealousy. She seemed constantly jealous and got enraged when her husband took another wife on a trip or spent time with another wife when it was supposed to be her time with him. While this shouldn't come as a surprise, this was the first such memoir I'd read in which this was a real issue. Interesting, for sure.

Overall, it was an interesting book and I was left with a lot of questions. Talking to Irene cleared a few of them up but overall, she spent more time telling us her "message" than she did answering specific questions. She's very, very anti-polygamy and doesn't think it's natural and is trying to get a couple of her daughters who are still living that lifestyle to get out. She realizes education is the key and that most of the people who live that way are kept sheltered from other possibilities. Her desire is to educate them. Of course, she's absolutely right that education is the key. But how?

Woman says rat from sewer climbed up through house toilet

Oh my god. I don't even want to read or watch the news story that goes with that headline because that's like one of my biggest fears. But if you are braver than I, here's the link. (via)

Ah! I wondered why the increase...

I noticed this morning when checking my Netflix queue that there seemed to be quite a few more "Watch it Now" options and this article explains it. Starz & Netflix came up with a deal to stream movies that air on its network. Pretty cool. (via)

Sorority "Sisters"

I find this picture of Carrie Underwood and her sorority sisters, which appears in the October 6 issue of Us Weekly, a bit unsettling. They look like clones of each other.

More pictures of the kids...

My brother has two sites where he posts pictures of his kids... Ben's is here and Mia's is here.

Museum Day

Tomorrow is Museum Day, sponsored by Smithsonian magazine. Museums across the country are taking part and providing free admission. It's always nice to save some money! If I were back home in Cleveland, I might take advantage of the free admission to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. What a deal! Unfortunately, most of the museums on the list in the Washington, DC, area are already free. Also, I was going to go to the National Book Festival tomorrow. But I guess if it rains, I might be heading to a museum.

Religulous screening

I was excited to go to a free advanced screening of Bill Maher's documentary Religulous last night. I enjoy Bill Maher and I enjoy seeing people try to explain their beliefs. It was definitely interesting and I enjoyed it, although I have to say if people want to spend their lives blindly devoted to God, why does Bill Maher care? Well, he does bring up some points and explains why he cares a bit but for the most part, I think he should let people do what they want to do just as I'm going to let him date models and porn stars half his age and hang out nonstop at the Playboy Mansion.

However, the truly interesting part of the evening was that the movie theater apparently installed the third reel incorrectly and so when it started, it was upside down and backwards. And instead of just stopping the reel and trying to correct it, apparently it had to play all the way through. So we had to sit there for like 25 minutes with nonsensical noise and upside down images. They talked about trying to fix it but then decided to just finish the movie and give us all coupons for another movie. So I missed about a half hour in the middle. But considering it was a documentary and Bill's point of view is pretty clear from the outset, I'll just wait to watch the rest of it on DVD. And go see another movie for free with my coupon!

Umbrella Today keeps it simple

Umbrella Today is probably the simplest weather site ever. You type in your zip code and it comes up with a big "YES" or "NO", answering the question whether you will need an umbrella today. Huh. Kinda cool, kinda simple. You also can sign up to get text alerts on the days when you will need your umbrella, no Internet required. I'm intrigued, although honestly I carry an umbrella with me every day. I have a small one that I keep in my bag. (via)

Pictures of Mia

Here are the first pictures of my niece Mia! One by herself first and one of her seemingly already trying to get out of the grasp of her big brother:

Man charged with smuggling beetles from Japan

Umm, eww! Here's the article, but nowhere does it say what the police did with the beetles. That guy lives close to me too!

I'm an aunt again!

My brother and sister-in-law now have a bouncing baby girl - two weeks early! She was born today at 6:02 pm and I guess although Melissa had been having contractions a little bit in the afternoon, the baby was almost born in the car and came really quickly. Good for her, couldn't wait to come into the world! Brian said she's 7 lbs, 10 ounces and has a full head of hair. And she snorts like a pig when she's sleeping, as I heard firsthand over the phone. If (when) I get a pic, I'll post it.

NFL Game Map

Kinda cool, this map shows which NFL football games will be carried in your area each weekend. On the left are buttons for CBS & Fox and the game that is shown is color coded. This was how I found out that this Sunday, the Browns vs. Cowboys game will be on TV here in DC, as well as most of the rest of the country. Sweet! (via)

Night Construction

I'm pretty sick of them doing overnight construction work on our street. They warned us on Monday night by telling us that our water would be turned off from 10pm to 6am. Last night, there was no similar warning; they just started hammering and drilling away starting at about 10pm and on through the night. I find it obnoxious that they only feel the need to warn you about it if your water is turned off. Do they think that doesn't affect our sleeping? I sleep with a fan on to drown out noises like that and my fan is not even loud enough to completely wipe it out. I find it really really annoying and I really don't get why they can't do it during the day. I'm guessing nighttime noises are a bigger nuisance to more people than being without water for a few hours during the day.

The Office commercial

Has anyone seen the commercials for The Office that are running during the Olympics? This one really made me laugh:

Beloit College Mindset List

This is an interesting list that comes out every year that shows the mindset of incoming freshman. The world as they know it, basically. It's enlightening and a surefire way to make you feel old. For instance, to these kids "Caller ID has always been available on phones." What? I remember when Caller ID was new!! And when we got it for my parents and they thought it was kind of a waste. Another one: "GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available." Also: "There has always been Pearl Jam." Heh. (via)

The World Conspires Against Me...

So I haven't had Internet at home for about a week now. We were sharing Internet with my neighbor but she moved to the fourth floor and we seem to not get her signal anymore. So it's tough for me, an Internet junkie, but at least I have Internet at work from 8:30 to 5:30, right? Well, not so much. Yesterday, our Internet at work went out at about 11:30am! It was down the rest of the day and actually wasn't fixed until about noon today! 24 hours without the Internet!

To make matters worse, last night after work I went to the library thinking that I might use their computers. When I got there, they were evacuating the building! Apparently the fire alarm had been going off and so everyone was asked to leave and the fire trucks came to check out the problem. I stuck around for about 15 minutes but nothing seemed to be happening so I just decided that someone did NOT want me to have access to the Internet that day and went home. Argh!

Smartbike DC

So I guess Smartbike DC launched today, although I saw the bikes downtown yesterday so maybe that start date is a bit off. But, the idea behind it is similar to the Zipcar/Flexcar concept, where instead of buying a car, you can sort of rent one whenever you need it. Smartbike looks like it charges $40 a year and then you can borrow a bike whenever you need one in three-hour increments. There are initially 100 bikes at 10 locations.

Forty bucks a year isn't bad at all, especially compared with buying a brand new bike, but I kind of don't like that you can only ride the bikes in the District - there are plenty of great bike spots in Virginia. (via)

Library of Congress Junior Fellows

It looks like the Junior Fellows Summer Intern program at the Library of Congress has come quite far in three years, since I was part of the first group. Here's a blog post about their findings this year. It looks like there are now 50 of them. We had about 20. It's amazing they are still finding some pretty cool treasures. And they get their names posted on the Library's Web site! I never was so lucky. Our press coverage was pretty non-existent. I guess I can always say I was in the first group, though.

Brickskeller

I went to The Brickskeller today, which I've wanted to do for three years since I heard about it but just had never made it before. It's a little off the beaten path actually. And they have hundreds of beers to choose from. We had a work happy hour for one of our employees who is leaving and she is a big beer lover so it was a good opportunity to go there. I ended up getting the Firestone Double Barrel Amber Ale and really liked it! But, one complaint is that with a beer list this long, why do they not have more from Ohio?

What a race

Last night I was sleepy but decided to stay up at least until the 4X100 relay to see if Michael Phelps won his second gold. And boy did I not regret it! What an awesome, exciting race. I highly recommend watching it, even if you know what happened.

Sales Tax Holiday!

This weekend is Virginia's annual Sales Tax Holiday weekend, good on school supplies under $20 and clothing under $100. It seems like it might be a good weekend to go shopping!

Web site with potential

I read about TripIt today and it sounds interesting. When you travel, you send all your confirmation emails, itineraries, etc... to it and it organizes them and creates one big itinerary for you, which you can then access from anywhere in whichever format you prefer. You can then share itineraries with friends to see where your schedules overlap. Web 2.0 for travel, I guess. It might be worth checking out next time you travel! (via)

No wonder I'm so spoiled

As I've left Cleveland and moved to Syracuse and now Washington, DC, it's annoyed me how awful the public libraries are. I guess I grew up just taking library services for granted and I won't lie that it's probably one of the reasons I became a librarian. Here's another article that proves my point that the libraries that I grew up with are the cream of the crop. On a list of the Top 25 Most Modern Libraries in the World (the WORLD, not just the US), the two libraries I always went to as a kid are both on the list under the technology and innovation category. (via)

Cake Pans! At a Library

This week's AL Direct has a story about how a library has Wilton cake pans available for checkout and even has them in their online catalog. Turns out the library is the Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, OH, part of the Portgage County system. Although the library apparently won't offer them for InterLibrary Loan, they do allow outsiders to get library cards to check out the cake pans. It's not that convenient for my friends/relatives back in Cleveland, but it's not that inconvenient either! So if you want to bake a cake in the shape of an object or famous character but don't want to spend the money to buy a cake pan you'll only use once, this is a great alternative! I bet a lot of the pans are discontinued too.

In other TV-viewing news...

I just got a Slingbox! I'm very very excited, as I've been interested in them for at least two years. At my current apartment, we decided to not get cable, and while it's been fine for the most part, I also do really miss it at times. But now I can watch the cable from my parents' house via my computer! The picture is pretty awesome. You can control it via a remote control image that shows up on your monitor and is identical to the actual remote control. Plus, it only costs the amount of the set-top box. It was pretty easy to set it up, too. Last night, I was excited to be able to watch the Project Runway Season 5 premiere. And next week, I'll be able to watch the second season of General Hospital: Night Shift. And also cool is that I can now watch Indians & Browns games that air on Cleveland television!

Just when I get near the end...

I've been semi-addicted to The Hills, the MTV reality show about a few girls living in the Hollywood Hills, and watched Season 1, Season 2 and part of Season 3 online in the last month to six weeks. Luckily for me, MTV.com offers every episode for free. Or, I should say offered. As of today, they took down almost all of Season 3 and left only the last four episodes! The Season 3 DVD comes out on July 29 so obviously they felt that no one would buy the DVDs if the episodes were all available for free online. Which, perhaps not, but I also know A LOT of people who do not watch TV online at all. And they've had them up this long. It just annoys me as I was so close to finishing Season 3.

So, anyway, I cannot end my obsession and get caught up on episodes until July 29th. I've already added the last two discs to my Netflix queue.

Oh really? I didn't get the job?

Here is the email I got Friday from Old Dominion University:

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in the Health Sciences Reference Librarian Position, #FA598A, with the 1LB10-Library Public Services Department, at Old Dominion University.

After reviewing your application, the hiring manager did not select you for an interview and the position has now been filled. We hope you will continue to seek employment opportunities with Old Dominion University.

Sincerely,
Department of Human Resources

Well, I don't remember when I applied for this job but I can guarantee it was sometime before April 2007 so it's been at least 15 months. So thanks so much for telling me I didn't get the position. I really thought I was still in the running.

Web site Recommendations

Time has come out with a list of the Top 50 Web sites so I went through the list and, although I've actually heard of and checked out most of them previously, there were a few new ones that sparked my interest.

Mobaganda is a no-frills invitation service without requiring registration or logging in... which is kinda nice. It's like Evite for people who don't want to spend an hour creating the invitation. Looking at it, it almost appears to be too no-frills for my liking.

Lookybook features children's books, letting you read them from the comfort of your home before buying them. It's an interesting idea, I guess. Also, it's kind of what libraries are for...

Picnik claims to be very very simple photo-editing software, letting you easily crop photos or remove red eye, those kinds of things.

Zeer provides reviews of food products and label information before you buy. I think everyone has read restaurant reviews, so it's a neat idea to have packaged food reviews too.

Book review: Whacked

I finished Whacked yesterday and it was awful. Awful! It is the first book by Jules Asner, who used to be on E! as an entertainment reporter. I actually used to really like her on there and then she left to marry Steven Soderbergh, who is adorable and talented, so I was looking forward to the book. But the main character is INSANE. She has dating problems, can't find a guy, and every guy she does go out with, she turns crazy either breaking into their email to get stock tips or to see what other girls are emailing them, changing phone numbers in their address books, stalking them, breaking into their house. It doesn't stop. Oh wait, then she murders someone... AND she doesn't even get punished or anything. In fact, she gets rewarded and lives happily ever after. I guess it's supposed to be a satire or something but it just drove me mad.

The Daily Show on Hulu

This week, Hulu.com started featuring episodes from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I find this exciting news because since I don't have cable, I often catch episodes of The Daily Show online. However, the video clips available on its official site always stutter and need buffering over and over again. Overall, it's not a great viewing experience. Hulu, on the other hand, is a platform that's given me very little problems in the past. And I've watched quite a bunch of programming through Hulu. The only problem is that it's only a test apparently and might not last and also, only the last few weeks episodes are up. Oh and The Colbert Report is on there too!

Here's a short clip from Hulu with Jon offering some advice:

Closet drama

Ever since I moved in to my apartment, the shelving unit in my closet has been crooked. It's not bad enough that the clothes slide down the bar or anything but it is noticeably crooked. I thought it was just installed without a level by some total idiots. But now I think it wasn't in securely from the start. On Sunday, I heard this cracking sound, went to look and saw that of the three brackets that hold up the shelf and the hanging rod, two of them are hanging by a thread. In other words, each one has more than half of their screws out of the wall. Lovely. I'm guessing this didn't happen all at once. And all I need is to have that come crashing down! So I was kind of worried about it Sunday night and called maintenance first thing Monday morning. No one came. So I was worried about it again Monday night, especially because I heard more slipping sounds. On Tuesday, they came apparently. Well, they left a note on the door saying the requested maintenance was performed. But absolutely nothing had been done! REALLY frustrated by this point, I called our management company yet again Wednesday and explained that nothing had been done. She promised to talk to the maintenance people again. Last night, I get home and there's another note on the door that they came. This time it says that they'll be back on Thursday but that I need to remove everything from my closet. Aggravating. I had removed all the stuff on the shelf and all the hanging stuff... if they really needed all of the stuff that sits on the floor removed too, couldn't they just slide it all out themselves? Also, it's worth pointing out that our apartment only has three closets - one in each of the bedrooms and one small coat closet right when you walk in the door. So it's not like I have anywhere to put all this stuff that I've now had out of the closet for four days. Also, I have a LOT of stuff crammed into that closet. Luckily my roommate is out of town so I'm using his room a little. But it really aggravates me that something as simple as coming in to re-install a closet shelf has now taken four days. And I will be livid if it is not fixed when I get home tonight.

"Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address"

What a cute story this is. Apparently, the parrot had been learning how to recite his name and address and so, when he got lost, he recited it to a vet and was reunited with his family. The cutest part is that he was captured by the police but wouldn't tell them anything.

On to Game 7 and more

So I haven't been giving game-by-game updates for the second round of the Cavs series but we are down to one more, winner-take-all game after the Cavs got their third victory of the series tonight against Boston. That will be on Sunday at 3:30pm! Exciting!! However, I already have plans for Sunday so I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to incorporate game-watching into those plans. I will either have to be crafty or I will have to tape the game and watch it later as if it were live.

I've been a little busy in the last week. I met with one of my book clubs (we read Water for Elephants) and we are deciding on our next book. I went to a reception for the local chapter of the Special Libraries Association and hobnobbed with other area librarians. I hung out with some coworkers after work and had some drinks. I watched the basketball games. I got free VIP passes to see Serj Tankian because my friend's brother-in-law is in his band. I didn't think I would enjoy that as much as I did but it was really fun! I kept up on most of my television shows as the season winds down. And work has been pretty busy with a huge assignment suddenly thrown at me this last week. But I'm surviving it all.

My first YouTube embedded link

This is perhaps the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. What if people acted in real life like they do in Facebook? (via)

Weekend in a Nutshell

I had a pretty quiet weekend. My roommate is gone, which is quite enjoyable. I love having the place to myself!

I went to the basketball game on Friday night and was so amped from that for a good 24 hours afterwards. Other than that, though, I had a really quiet weekend. I'm still getting over my cold so I wanted to rest up and have an uneventful weekend. I'm a lot better but I still have this cough that I can't seem to shake. I met some friends for dinner at Ceiba on Saturday night. I also watched some movies, did a little shopping and did some things I hadn't gotten around to doing for awhile, like cleaning my room and getting my bike put together. The weather was pretty enjoyable this weekend, too. I turned on my air conditioning for the first time; seems to work great!

On to Round 2

The Cavs won on Friday night: Cavaliers 105, Wizards 88. It was a good game and I was there in person! I got a great seat in the second row of the Verizon Center, almost directly behind the Cavaliers bench and right next to the walkway that led to the Cavaliers locker room. You can check out my pictures from the game below. Click to view them larger.

Should Have Won

Yeah, the Cavs lost again last night, 88 to 87. They should have won; it was close; balls just weren't dropping in the basket at the end. But at least they still have two more games to close it out. Now, Game Six comes back to DC and I think I'll go to the game.

"The new library fad: borrow a person"

Interesting article from the UK about a "Living Library" where patrons can come in and "check out" a person to learn about a subject, i.e. Gay Man, Immigrant, Muslim, Social Worker. You choose your person of interest and get 30 minutes to talk to them and learn about them. Kinda cool! It's like skipping through a book to only the parts that interest you... (via)

A weekend of sickness

My weekend in a nutshell:

• Came home from work early on Friday because I was sick and not feeling well with a cold
  
• Got progressively sicker as the weekend wore on... and now am doing better thankfully
• Participated in some low-key activities - naps, movie-watching, book-reading, laundry
• Watched the Cavs win on Sunday - yay! Only one win away from the next round
• Traveled to Woodbridge to return items to Ikea on Saturday - had to go since their return policy allows for returns up to 90 days and Saturday was Day 90
• Had dinner with Charlie while I was in Woodbridge
• Unable to participate in shopping, which I normally like to do in Woodbridge, because I felt very dizzy and sick while walking around the mall, although I did run into the shoe store on my way out of the mall and ended up buying two really cute pairs of shoes. I guess the good thing about being sick is I had no time for my usual deliberation, I just purchased
  
• Talked to my mom for a few hours Saturday night.... about my brother potentially moving down the street from them (good news?!) and about my uncle who passed away last week (bad news)
  

Bethesda Book Club

I'm in so many book clubs now and none of them really have any names so I guess I'll call this the Bethesda one, only because we met last night for the first time in Bethesda. Our organizer would like to call it the Oprah/NYT Book Club because she prefers to read books from those lists but I think there are plenty of enjoyable, undiscovered books out there so I'm resistant to that name. Anyway, we read an Oprah-recommended novel, The Corrections, and while as recently as Tuesday it didn't seem like I would finish the book, I actually did. I had about 260 pages to go on Tuesday but I actually managed to fly through the rest of the book in the following two days so that I was done before the meeting. I feel pretty meh about the book, parts of it were enjoyable but all of the characters were so unlikeable and annoying that it was hard to sympathize with any of them. Anyway, we really did discuss the book and the women were all pretty nice and we're trying to decide on a place and a book for next time.

Afterwards, a couple of us went to a bar/restaurant to eat and watch the game. It was a good time! The only down side was that I missed the latest episode of Lost. But I did tape it so I'll be watching it tonight.

Can't Win Them All

I expected the Wizards to win game three after being dominated in game two and heading home but Wizards 108, Cavaliers 72 was way more than just losing. The Cavs sucked. It was embarrassing.

What's odd is that people seem to not even care around here. Watching the game on Monday night at a bar, there were more people in the bar rooting for the Cavs than for the hometown team. Last night, I went to a bar to watch it and they said no one had asked to have it on so they were going to keep the Nationals game on instead since people had asked for that. How crazy is that? The Nationals are in last place in their division in game 23 of a season that lasts 162 games. The Wizards are in the playoffs! And on my way home, I saw a lot more people wearing Cavs apparel than I saw wearing Wizards apparel. Generalizing, I guess Washington isn't a basketball town.

24 Picture

I was pretty excited when I saw this picture of the cast of the new season of 24. And it's not because of the show. I've never seen an episode of the show before. I was excited because the spot where they are all standing is about a 7 minute walk from my apartment so it's kinda cool to think I've been there before. Of course, the picture was probably green-screened or whatever... I'm guessing the cast isn't really standing on the Memorial Bridge.

StopForwarding

This Web site will anonymously send an email to any forward-happy friend asking them to stop forwarding you. Here is some of the content of the letter:

Please do not forward chain letters, urban myths presented as truth, potentially offensive jokes, videos or photos without being asked or first receiving permission. If you find something that is funny and it is clean and you genuinely think the recipient will enjoy it then foward it to that person only (not in an email blast to all your friends and family) and include a personal note about why you enjoyed it and why you think they will too. Avoid sending forwards to friends or relatives that you've grown distant with. It can be frustrating for the recpient when the only correspondance you have with someone is via impersonal, unwanted email.

It's kinda funny and slightly passive aggressive, but luckily I don't really have any need to use it since none of my friends are constantly forwarding me emails. I also notice that the letter has some typos in it, ha! (via)

Earth Day, Plant a Tree

Happy Earth Day! I saw this apple tree-to-be you can buy and plant for $19.13 and I would so do it if only I had somewhere to plant it. Maybe someone else can do it for me! (via)

Two in a Row!

The Cavs won again tonight! Cleveland 116, Washington 86. Two more victories and they're on to the next round.

Cavs 93, Wizards 86

I'm stoked that the Cavs won the first game in their playoff series today! Although it kind of sucks that I can't watch the games at home since most of them are on cable and I no longer have cable.

National Library Week

In honor of National Library Week, Entertainment Weekly came up with "18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks". In other words, they showcase scenes that take place in libraries from 18 movies.

In Bloom

We have these trees in front of our building that our landlord said were cherry blossom trees. I'm not sure if they truly are because they look different to me than other trees that I've been told are cherry blossom trees. Nonetheless, they finally bloomed a couple of days ago and are really pretty. Here's a pic:

Shopping, Taxes and my life

This weekend was a pretty quiet weekend for me, which is good because I was really busy for about two weeks straight, including lots of dinner plans (including here, here & here), a book club meeting, friends in town, trip to Philadelphia for work, and a day at a library conference. While I really enjoy seeing my friends, I also really like quiet time too!

Yesterday, I started my taxes and even though I'm not quite finished yet (hey, I still have one day!) it looks like I'm getting a good chunk of change back for a refund. Which will be nice, but also probably indicates I should change what's getting taken out of my paycheck.

Today, instead of finishing my taxes like I should have done (hey, I still have one day!), I went shopping. I haven't been shopping in awhile and it's really soothing to me sometimes to just walk around a mall and try to find some bargains. I went to Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, then Kohl's, and finally Wegman's. I got some great deals at the mall. H&M gave you $10 off if you spent $50 so I bought some jewelry (2 rings and a necklace), 2 lightweight sweaters and a hoodie for $46. I think that's an awesome deal! And I also got a cute little change purse at The Limited for $3! At Kohl's, I bought some more jewelry (again, 2 rings and a necklace), another little purse and 2 pairs of shoes. I spent like $85 on all that but that's not bad considering that half of that total was one pair of running shoes, which I really think I needed. Hmm, and I bought a lot of groceries at Wegman's but hey, who can help themselves there?

Free version of Photoshop

Adobe recently launched a free online version of Photoshop, which might be useful. I haven't had a chance to check into it too much but I have used a previous version that you had to purchase so it's nice to have some basic photo-editing options available for free from a name you can recognize.

Mistaken Identity Story

I taped and then watched today the "Mistaken Identity" story that was on Dateline on Friday. And boy did I cry! From the poor families not knowing if their daughters were alive, to the one family finding out that their daughter was NOT alive and having to bury her, to the other family finding out their daughter did make it but was in a coma with major brain damage, to the ultimate realization that this girl that they were caring for constantly and watching slowly heal was in fact not the girl they thought it was, to the family who thought they were getting messed with all over again by some jerks telling them that their daughter was maybe alive after all, to the girl who survived dealing with survivor's guilt.... I was kind of a mess. Unbelievable, moving story.

That site has video but I'm not sure if it's complete. Also, the families are going to be on Oprah on Weds.

Author Name Pronunciation Site

I thought this was pretty cool, especially for the librarian/teacher/parent who might be faced with trying to pronounce author's names. It lists a bunch of author's names and when you click on one, you go to a link where the author is pronouncing his/her own name. Usually, they also explain the name's origins.

Some of them seem a little silly (did anyone ever have trouble with "Judy Blume"?) but others are pretty useful (I always did stumble over Jon Scieszka) (via)

BoltBus

I've heard you can ride buses from Washington DC to New York City pretty cheaply, but how about $1? BoltBus offers some tickets for only $1! And even their most expensive trips seem to be about $20. It all depends on when you want to go and how early you book. Pretty sweet! (via)

"Talkshow split gives gabbers new life"

An article in Variety explains how the Daytime Emmy awards will be splitting Best Talk Show into two different categories, one for information and one for entertainment. It mentions that Ellen Degeneres has cleaned up in that category the last few years while shows like The View were overlooked. Here's an opportunity for another show to win.

Huh? They imply that the new winner might be The View. HA! The View sucks. Have you ever heard their interviews? They are a complete waste of time with four people trying to get their questions in before the 5 minutes alloted for interviews ends. There rarely is any sort of cohesion or segue from one topic to another, either. And, during the Hot Topics section, which has the potential to be interesting, the women usually just offer ill-informed opinions on the goings-on of the day while talking over each other. Meanwhile, Ellen has to fill one entire hour of time every single day with interviews that she conducts by herself, with comedic bits, with a monologue and well, with dancing segments that kill time. But that was a clever way to kill time, you have to admit. People love it! She doesn't just show up five minutes before the show and express her opinion. I couldn't agree more with the critics interviewed in that article.

Fortune Cookie

I had a fortune cookie today and my fortune read: "An interesting sports opportunity is in your near future."

Hmm! What could it be? I immediately assumed I will win one of the March Madness Bracket Buster games and become a millionaire. What else could it mean?

It also gave me numbers: 8 15 17 20 35 42
Those are suspiciously close to the Lost numbers. But too bad I didn't have those numbers when I was creating my brackets!

SI.com Archive

Starting on Thursday, Sports Illustrated's Web site will debut "The Vault," which will feature all the content, including photographs, from all of its back issues. It will be searchable and also will let you literally "turn the page" from old issues. Sounds pretty cool. (via)

Guys suck

That guys suck is not really news, especially not to any single women out there. However....

I went out with a bunch of ladies Sat. night and got into the old discussion of why do guys take your number and then not call you? I think this has probably happened to everyone at some point or another, definitely has happened to me. But on Saturday, one of the gals in our group started talking to this guy who she had met before and had given her number to when he asked. And he never called. So the other gals were trying to encourage her to talk to him again but she felt like there must have been a good reason he hadn't called and was a little hesitant to even put herself out there.

So we discussed among ourselves possible reasons why guys do this. Theories included they were too drunk to remember afterwards that they did in fact take your number... they meant to call but time passed and they just felt like it was too late then... they took it with the intention to call but changed their mind later... they just like to collect numbers.

When we actually consulted a male, one of this guy's friends in fact, he added a new one to the list: guys take numbers as a way to end a conversation. Which shocked me in its obnoxiousness; I mean, there are a million ways to end a conversation without implying that you are going to call someone and talk to them again. Is this a common thought among men?

The next day I posed the same question to my male roommate. He gave me some of the reasons we females had also come up with and added, "Sometimes you ask for a number just to end a conversation." So, yes, indeed this apparently is a common thought among men. I can't get over how rude that is!

Therefore, here are some suggestions to men on other ways to end a conversation:
1.) "Bye."
2.) "It was nice talking to you."
3.) "Well, I really need to get going."
4.) "I need to use the restroom."
5.) "I need to make a call."
6.) "I need to get a drink."
7.) "Oh, I see someone else I want to talk to!"
8.) "Well, good luck with [that thing we were talking about]."
9.) "Wow, look at the time."
10.) "I really should get back to my friend."

Overextended?

So now I'm officially in three book clubs, actually four. Well, I guess I'm only officially in one since I've yet to attend a meeting of the others but I've "committed" myself to two others meeting in the next month. Am I crazy or can I do it?

My work book club has decided that the next book will be Water for Elephants, which is apparently about the circus? It was like #1 on a list of "Top Books for Book Clubs" or something too so I guess there is stuff to talk about. I'll definitely give it a try because it's better than the last book: A Tale of Two Cities. Our due date is mid-April.

The Librarians & Friends Book Club is reading books by Valerie Martin this month. I've got two of her books checked out from the library and have had a little difficulty getting into them. But I think that's more because a book club seems like homework and therefore I want to procrastinate and the book club doesn't meet for another couple of weeks so why get too involved yet? These books do sound semi-interesting, though. Our due date is March 26.

I also joined a Miscellaneous Female Book Club (my name, not theirs) with some gals I went out with on Saturday night. Our book is The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. I had never heard of the book but I do know the author and thoroughly enjoyed his first book, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, so hopefully this one is just as good. Instead of being about Savannah, this new book is about Venice so I'm expecting a similar type of book. Our due date is April 1.

Finally, the last book club is actually the one I've read the most books for. My friend Catherine & I are reading all the advanced copies of teen fiction books we've been given for free at the American Library Association conferences. We have a collection of maybe ten titles and I find myself most interested in reading those. Probably because they are simple, easy-to-read and there is no pressure of a due date.

New Umbrella

I'm pretty sure I would never use this as I don't like umbrellas (regardless of how fancy they are) and normally do not mind just getting wet but regardless, check out the Nubrella. Basically it's like a tent for your head. It goes all the way around your head, is clear in front so you can see where you are going, and rests on your shoulders so you can be hands-free also. Revolutionary I suppose but yes, it does look like a bubble.

Ex-Boyfriend Jewelry

This Web site provides a forum for women to sell the jewelry they got from their exes, complete with pictures and the stories behind the jewelry. For example: if he really knew me, he would have known that I don't like heart-shaped jewelry.

It's kind of amusing. I think I have something I could sell on there too!

What Should I Read Next?

I found this very simple Web site that asks you to input the last book you just read and the author and it gives you a list of books to read next. They really want people to register and keep updating it with their favorite books to make it more accurate. I didn't do that yet, just tested it out. But I do find it interesting!

Long time coming

It's been a REALLY long time coming but the Cavaliers finally made some big trades and got rid of some of its unbelievably high salaried players for some players that actually back up that salary with some skill in some big blockbuster trades! I'm very excited about it, although I'm still not sure who is going to play point guard. Also, I'm bummed that I don't have cable and cannot watch it get analyzed every hour on SportsCenter.

I'm a winner!

Thanks to the Washington City Paper, I won a free pass to see the new Imax concert movie U2 3D at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History! It's just one pass so I guess they expect me to go alone but it sounds pretty cool. And I love winning things!

National Portrait Gallery

I spent a couple hours today at the National Portrait Gallery. I'd never been there before since it was closed for renovations during my DC internship in 2005 and I just haven't done much museum stuff since I moved here permanently. But with the recent talk about Stephen Colbert's portrait hanging there temporarily, I figured it would be a good time to check it out. I enjoy portraits and really read a lot of the descriptions of the people who were depicted. I only wish that there was more discussion as to why or when the portraits were made.

It's shocking how much attention the Stephen Colbert portrait is getting. As soon as I entered, I heard people talking about it and heading upstairs solely to check it out. And there was a large assembly of people hovering around it, all snapping photographs. I debated about taking a picture of it as well as taking a picture of all the people taking pictures of it but decided not to bother. I think there are enough pictures of it. In fact, there are hundreds of pictures on Flickr from visitors. But I did take a drink out of the drinking fountain below the picture. Also interesting is that after looking at hundreds of portraits in the museum, you can tell how crappy the Stephen Colbert one is.

Boring book club

A few people at work started a book club and chose the first book as A Tale of Two Cities. Now, I like the idea of being in a book club but I CANNOT force myself to read A Tale of Two Cities. At all. The book was chosen about six weeks ago and I've tried, really tried, to read it. But I hate it. And I end up falling asleep nearly every time I try to read it. It's so frigging boring. I feel bad - as the only librarian at work - not getting through it but geez, it's so dull!! I've been trying - unsuccessfully - to get somewhere with it during most of today but ugh, I ended up just taking a bunch of naps. We're supposed to talk about it on Monday and I guess I'm going to have to not participate because I have absolutely nothing to share. However, I'd like to participate so I can have some input into the next book!

What would Sawyer call me?

Awesome! Sawyer from Lost loves nicknames. Whether it's Freckles or Doc or Mr. Miyagi, he never calls his fellow castaways by their first names. And here is your chance to find out what he would call you if you were stranded on the island with the Sawyer Nickname Generator. I got "Sweet Cheeks" and then "Wilbur" for marking the exact same characteristics. But I'd let Sawyer call me whatever he wants! (via)

"Estevez goes 'Public'"

This article announces that Emilio Estevez's next movie will be about a Los Angeles librarian staging an act of civil disobedience and allowing homeless people to stay in the library after the library is inundated with people on the coldest days of the year. Interesting. Always nice to have a movie showing a librarian doing something good, rather than a librarian just angrily shushing people!

Celebrity Sighting

I saw Hillary Clinton today! Her campaign headquarters are next to our office at work so there have been sightings by some of my co-workers... more often there are just secret service sightings. But today one of my co-workers who actually has a window view called me at about 5:15 to tell me that there was a lot of secret service and gawker activity and that she was bound to come out soon so I went to his office and watched and waited. We saw her at about 5:30!! Another one of my coworkers had gone down there to wait and brought her camera so she snapped some pictures! She got really close but unfortunately the pictures were kind of dark. Anyway, it was a pretty exciting way to end the workday! Also kind of ironic since it was the day I decided to send away for an absentee ballot from Ohio, since I'm still registered to vote there. Will I be tempted to vote for Hillary now that I've seen her in person? I'm not sure. I'm still undecided on my vote. Although seeing her is nothing new. I actually saw her in person in 1992 and not out a window when she came to Cleveland to give a speech during Bill's presidential run. I have a picture of her to prove it - maybe I should get it scanned and upload it.

My weekend

I had a pretty decent weekend, all things considered. I spent a lot of it trying to catch up on sleep and just relax, lay low. Did some laundry, watched some movies... I pretty much finished up straightening up the last of the moving crap still in my room, which was driving me crazy with the mess. And socially, I had a couple of fun plans. I went to a Happy Hour at a wine bar I'd always wanted to check out on Thursday night and went crazy at a Mardi Gras party Sat. night. While at the party, I upped my bead count from 3 strands to 11 and I didn't even have to do anything to get them! Except look cute, I guess. I enjoyed the band, That Guy, who only do cover songs, and would totally go see them again. Now the Super Bowl is about ready to start and I swear I have ZERO interest in watching it. Zero. As an avid sports fan, I fear that something is wrong with me. But maybe it's the rebel in me acting out, detesting how everyone and their brother watches the Super Bowl, even if it's the only football game they watch all year.

Completely moved out!

Tonight, with one last carload of stuff, I completely moved out of my old place!! Aww, it's a little sad since I spent about 9 months there but I'm pretty psyched about my new place so I'll get over it. It was kind of a quick decision to move and then get moved - it all happened in less than a month - but I'm so thrilled to stop looking. I'd always known the place I was living was only temporary so I spent a good part of the last nine months scouring apartment listings and roommate situations trying to find a good place. It's such a relief to be done with that, I can't even explain. My new place is bigger, cheaper and feels more like home already. Plus, it only takes me about 8 minutes to get to work in the morning, compared to what often was nearly 40 minutes but was a minimum of about 25 minutes. It's such a huge huge difference already. I'm still getting settled in but I'm well on my way. Anyway, excuse my absence the last couple of weeks. You might start hearing more from me now.

Hilton Head Kite Flying

I took some pictures of my family flying kites at the beach last week when we were in Hilton Head. Here is the link to the pictures in the album.

Hilton Head Kite Flying

Ow!

So I sprained my wrist the other day. I was out of town for a few days on a family vacation to Hilton Head, SC, and transportation back involved car, plane, layover, delay, plane, train, another train, walk to car, drive home... On the walk to the car, I tripped over my suitcase and went sprawling to the floor. I scraped up the right side of my body and apparently landed my left side solely on my wrist. I went to the doctor yesterday and they diagnosed it as a sprain with deep contusions. It really hurts, mostly when I try to use my fingers. The splint they gave me has helped stabilize it but it will probably be at least a week before it starts to feel much better. Could be worse, of course. I don't imagine I'll be writing on here much though because it hurts to type two-handed and I'm pretty impatient about typing one-handed.

Most Literate Cities

I saw a couple of places on the net today discussion of the "most literate" cities in the US. Minneapolis wins. What's interesting is to look at the actual report and see how cities placed in the different categories. For instance, Cleveland ranks #1 in library services, ranks #8 in periodical publishing, #10 in newspaper circulation, #9 in bookstores (so four top ten finishes) but only #67 in education for an overall ranking of #13. That's still a high ranking but it makes me wonder about which of the categories takes precedence. Also, it points out that the people of Cleveland clearly enjoy reading and learning but in order to be "literate," they must advance that into formal education. I'm not so sure I agree.

Christmas movie wrap-up 2007

Here are my final grades for the 2007 made-for-TV holiday movie season... I watched 16 movies between Thanksgiving and Dec. 26th! But that's apparently one less than last year.

A
The Note
Holiday in Handcuffs
The Christmas Shoes

A-
All I Want for Christmas
Lost Holiday: The Jim and Suzanne Shemwell Story
Christmas in Paradise
Snowglobe

B+
All She Wants for Christmas
The Family Holiday

B
Holiday Switch
A Grandpa for Christmas
Silver Bells
Like Father, Like Santa

B-
An Accidental Christmas

C
Christmas Caper
Christmas Child

Pulling up all of my reviews is a lot easier now that I've started labeling my posts. Also, this article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tells exactly why people (read: me!) love Christmas movies. Says Robert Thompson, "Christmas is one of those times where innovation is not what you're looking for... A Christmas story has got to tell some kind of tale of redemption, a return to a more spiritual, loving place. Or it's got to talk about a sacrifice made for other people."

The article even offers a fairly accurate "HOLIDAY TV-MOVIE PLOTLINE GENERATOR". Check it out!

Christmas movie review: The Family Holiday

Rating: B+

A cute premise for a movie but ruined by poor casting, A Family Holiday tells the story of the family that Doc Holiday, our main character, must quickly assemble around Christmastime in order to receive his uncle's inheritance. A lifelong con artist, Doc conveniently finds a couple of sweet orphaned kids, a dog and then quickly hires a nanny to serve as their mother and moves them into a rented house just in time for the 'judge' to come approve of his changed lifestyle and reward him the money. Is he in it for the money or for love? Of course, we all know that he's going to fall for the woman and end up wanting the kids but it was just a little too contrived for me. You don't pick up some orphans and adopt them as your own in 3 days. Nor do you hire a nanny, have her work 2 days, lie to her during those two days, and then marry her! My suspension of disbelief is not that great; particularly not when Dave Coulier is in the lead role. Who decided he needed to work again?

Christmas movie review: Snowglobe

Rating: A-

Snowglobe was really cute and had a lot going for it. It tells the story of a young woman, frustrated with her overbearing family who enjoy having lasagna for Christmas dinner and are always trying to set her up on dates, who receives a snowglobe as a present and soon finds herself transported to the idyllic snowglobe world whenever she takes a nap. At first she thinks it's merely a dream. Then she wakes up one morning wearing a glove she got in snowglobe world. THEN, her snowglobe world boyfriend comes finds her in New York City. It's cute and has the basic premise of sometimes what you think you want isn't exactly what you really want. Plus, I'm a big fan of movies that turn inanimate objects into real things. My one very small complaint was that Christina Millian, the actress/pop star playing the lead, broke into a very noticeable (and not that good in my opinion) Brooklyn accent at some very random times.

Home for Christmas

I went back home for about six days for Christmas, but was able to use only two vacation days, which is good since I don't have a lot. Now I'm back in DC. Here is a picture of our family tree on Christmas Day, before the gifts were unwrapped.


While I was home, I slept in, did some laundry, watched some movies, did all of my Christmas shopping and also tagged along while my parents did some of theirs, helped babysit my nephew one day, hung out with my family, wrapped dozens of presents for my mom, and relaxed. It was nice and just long enough to make it tough to come back to DC. Now it's back to work for a few days and then a family vacation in South Carolina! Oh, also, on my flight back in to Baltimore, my pilot's name was Captain Morgan! That's calming. But actually I loved him because he got us there nearly twenty minutes early, allowing me to catch the earlier bus!

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Shoes

Rating: A

A tear-jerker, that's what The Christmas Shoes is. Kimberly Williams plays a volunteer music teacher organizing the Christmas program who becomes ill with a terminal heart problem. Her son desperately wants to buy her a pair of Christmas shoes to wear into heaven and starts saving cans to turn in for a nickel apiece, hoping he can earn enough before she dies. And, she's deteriorating rapidly. Also in the same town, Rob Lowe plays a working-too-hard husband and father who is setting up interviews for his wife so she'll start working again and missing his daughter's chorale concerts (yes, she sings for Kimberly's character). Needless to say, his family is not pleased with him. Did I mention his mother dies too? Yep, this one is not chock full of happy, sweet, wonderful moments. The two stories take place simultaneously with the characters intersecting in magical ways. It's a really sweet story and has a little bit of everything. It first aired on CBS in 2002 and I'm not sure how I've missed it all these years!

Christmas movie review: All She Wants for Christmas

Rating: B+

All She Wants for Christmas, from 2006, tells the story of a business-minded local gal who is trying to save the town's ornament-making company. She needs to cut costs enough to make them sustainable. It's also part love story as she meets someone who is new to town and they start to date. And even though the viewer can see from a mile away who this new guy is, our main character cannot. Overall, it's an okay story with okay acting. No magic, just cute and agreeable.

Christmas movie review: Like Father, Like Santa

Rating: B

Like Father, Like Santa is nearly ten years old yet I'm pretty sure I had never seen it before. It stars Harry Hamlin as Santa's son who has forsaken the North Pole but still does use the naughty and nice list to get ammo on clients he wants to do business with. A nice touch. When his dad (Santa) gets kidnapped by disgruntled employees and Harry's character coincidentally is in the North Pole to get incriminating evidence for his latest business venture, the two men find themselves locked up together and sort of come to terms with their problems. It turns out that Harry resents his dad for putting his job before his family life, something that Harry soon realizes he does also. And of course, everything turns out rosy in the end. While I enjoyed this movie, I might have rated it higher if they hadn't included a half-hour or so of Santa and Harry trying to escape from their captors. Yawn. It went downhill at the end.

Christmas movie review: Christmas Child

Rating: C

Christmas Child bored me to tears. I usually am doing something else while I watch these Christmas movies but if I can't follow along while I do those other things, then it says something about the movie... because their plots are certainly not supposed to be complicated or intricate. I must have stopped this one and rewound it about ten times during the movie to try to figure out what was going on. Yawn! Loosely, it's about a journalist who is kind of estranged from his family and goes back to his hometown to investigate a story and ends up finding out stuff about himself. Like who his real father is. I'm not even sure if I have that right. And of course there is a happy ending. Boring, dull and unimpressive.

Christmas movie review: Christmas in Paradise

Rating: A-

I enjoyed Lifetime's Christmas in Paradise, which is new for 2007. It tells the story of two families missing one parent who hook up on Christmas Eve at a resort in Puerto Rico. There is a family of two boys and a mom whose father passed away in the last year. And, there is a family of two daughters and a dad whose mother just skipped out on them without any contact in the last year. Conveniently, there is a boy and a girl around the same age so they can all hang out in pairs, including the parents. Also, the youngest boy and the oldest girl are both very bitter and upset over their respective losses. Of course, during this Christmas, everyone starts to heal and love starts to bloom. It's a sweet story. The reasons why it got an A- rather than an A is because they tried to be all fancy with their camera work by doing a lot of split screens and it was very annoying. And also because everything basically took place in one day and that was a little hard for me to believe. But overall, it was good.

Christmas movie review: Silver Bells

Rating: B

Silver Bells, which originally aired in 2005, stars Anne Heche and Tate Donovan, which forces me to give it some props. Anytime a Christmas movie can cast actors that you actually know, it means that there is a little more credibility there. Unfortunately, I found this one really boring. At the center of the story is Tate's teenaged son who is forced every Christmas to sell Christmas trees with his family on the streets of Manhattan. He really wants to be a photographer, though, and gets to know Anne Heche, the manager of a local art gallery. One Christmas he runs away from his dad, who searches frantically for him for the next year. Meanwhile, Anne Heche keeps in touch with the son and even shows some of his photographs at the gallery. But she doesn't tell the father until about the time they share a kiss. Then she starts to feel guilty. The son tries to stay away from the father but eventually, everything works out and everyone lives happily ever after. The overall story was okay and admittingly a little different than many of the other holiday stories but I was bored and didn't really feel a connection to any of the characters. I didn't understand why the son had to run away; I didn't understand why the father was kind of a jerk; I didn't understand why Anne's character wouldn't tell that she'd heard from the son.... so many things I couldn't relate to.

Christmas movie review: A Grandpa for Christmas

Rating: B

There wasn't anything wrong or dislikeable about A Grandpa for Christmas, which tells the story of an estranged grandfather and granddaughter forced to live together when the mom gets into a car accident and is stuck in the hospital. There is fighting and malcontent at first and of course, by the end, the family loves each other and everyone lives happily ever after. It's a cute enough story as you see the relationship between the grandfather and granddaughter grow, despite all the horrible things she's heard about him all her life. I just rated it a little lower since the main characters are a child and a senior citizen. I prefer characters I can relate to more.

Trailer for the new season of Lost

Oh boy does this look AWESOME! I cannot wait. (via)

Christmas movie review: Holiday in Handcuffs

Rating: A

Holiday in Handcuffs is a romantic comedy Christmas movie. Poor Trudie (played by Melissa Joan Hart) gets dumped right before Christmas so she can't take her boyfriend up to meet her constantly disapproving parents. Temporarily insane thanks to her mother, she ends up taking someone hostage and forces him (played by Mario Lopez) to be her date. Of course, he tries to get out of it and resist but conveniently her parents live in a very secluded mountain area making escape difficult. Add to that the fact that her family is just crazy enough and desperate enough for their daughter to have a boyfriend that they refuse to believe it when he tells them he's been kidnapped. It's not going to come as a surprise to anyone to find out that Trudie and her hostage start to fall for each other. But it's a very cute story. There's no magic element (one of my favorite parts of Christmas movies) but combining a romantic comedy with a Christmas movie is always a good idea. Plus, Melissa & Mario do well with it.

Christmas movie review: The Note

Rating: A

I really enjoyed The Note. Maybe I'm biased because I've been a General Hospital addict for as long as I can remember and Genie Francis starred in this movie. Nonetheless, it tells the story of a struggling writer (Genie) who has been told she needs to improve her newspaper column by Christmas or she's out. Having a difficult time coming up with stories as she has sort of detached herself from feeling anything since her husband passed away, she tried to kill herself, and she gave their child up for adoption, she is drawn to the scene of a nearby plane crash and happens to find a note presumably written by one of the plane's passengers in his last moments. She decides to seek out the person who the note was written to and plays detecting, taking her readers along for the ride. Of course, her column improves and her self-detachment abides and things turn out happily ever after. She even begins a relationship with Ted McGinley, a fellow writer. Ted and Genie are really cute together. Anyway, this movie has a great mix of mystery and the required Christmas magic and was definitely one of the best I've seen this year.

"Digital divide still an issue in Minnesota"

This article talks about the Digital Divide, a big topic while we were in library school. While I do think many people in general might forget that there are indeed people in the US not online, the one statement from the article that baffles me is this: "More than 90 percent of people with incomes over $75,000 a year are online." It just surprises me that anyone making over $75,000 a year would not be online, even if it's just at work. What kind of jobs are out there that provide that kind of a salary but do not require any computer access or Internet capability? Construction workers, perhaps? Movie stars? Professional athletes? (via)

Merry Christmas from United

I'm sharing the Christmas e-card I got from United Airlines. It's the virtual version of displaying my Christmas cards on my fireplace mantel.

Christmas movie review: Lost Holiday - The Jim and Suzanne Shemwell Story

Rating: A-

Ironically, this is another 2007 made-for-Lifetime holiday movie about a couple who is separated finding their way back to each other. Compared to An Accidental Christmas, though, Lost Holiday is much much better. This couple goes off snowmobiling and then get lost in the woods so they actually face life-and-death situations before they decide to get back together. Also, although you know that they obviously survive or the movie wouldn't be much of a holiday miracle movie, it keeps you in suspense and makes you wonder how they really were able to survive. It's also heartwarming to watch their family members react to the tragedy. Did I mention it's based on a true story?

Christmas movie review: An Accidental Christmas

Rating: B-

An Accidental Christmas is a story about a long-married couple with kids who have separated and are trying to move on with their life. At least, the mother is. She is pursuing a career for the first time in her life. The father seems to want to get back with the mother. The kids intervene and set it up so that both parents unknowingly end up at their family beach house for the holidays. Where.... surprise, surprise, they resist at first but soon realize that they haven't grown as far apart as they thought and will work things out and live happily ever after. At least until the holidays end and reality sets in again. I didn't enjoy it that much. The acting was just so-so. The plotlines were kind of silly and the mom seemed kind of annoying, like why would you want to get back with her? Also, millions of people figure out how they can be a mom/wife and also pursue their career so I didn't empathize with her plight too much.

National Christmas Tree

I went down to look at the National Christmas Tree the other day, in front of the White House and it was kind of neat. The tree itself, with the red bows above, was big but otherwise not that impressive. On the other hand, each state gets its own tree decorated with handmade ornaments and I thought those were much cooler. I took a picture of the trees of all the states I've lived in: Ohio, New York and Virginia. Here is Ohio on the left and New York on the right.

Christmas movie review: All I Want for Christmas

Rating: A-

New this year, All I Want for Christmas stars Gail O'Grady as a single mom who has more or less given up men and instead focused on her son and giving to the homeless. Her son decides to enter a contest to win a husband for his mom and of course wins the contest so she embarks on a series of blind dates. She starts dating an executive in the company that sponsored the contest but it doesn't take a psychic to see that she is really going to end up with the cute neighbor who has played surrogate father to her son over the years. Gail's character is spunky, smart and realistic enough that you overlook a lot of the hokeyness and enjoy the movie for what it is: a sweet warm-hearted holiday tale.

Christmas movie review: Holiday Switch

Rating: B

Holiday Switch is courtesy of Lifetime and tells the story of a woman who is unhappy in her life with her poor handyman husband and her two daughters. Some magic leads her to crawl into her dryer and when she crawls out the other side, she's magically married to someone else she dated in high school, who seems to live a fantastic life of wealth and joy. Suddenly wealthy beyond her wildest dreams, our main character quickly realizes that she's in a loveless marriage to a man who is having an affair and that she really misses her children. She then tries a bunch of things to try to get her real husband and family back. It's kind of stupid and kind of magical, just like a Christmas movie should be. The acting is not that great (Nicole Eggert?), which is what drops this one's grade down a bit.

Christmas movie review: Christmas Caper

It's that time of year again, where I watch a boatload of made-for-TV Christmas movies and LOVE them!! Or not. But generally speaking I enjoy them. So I'll watch and review them, just like I did last year. Make sure to read my disclaimer from last year when checking out the grades I assign each one.

Rating: C

Christmas Caper stars Shannen Doherty as a jewel thief who gets caught on a surveillance camera and simultaneously gets asked by her desperate sister to watch her niece and nephew. It's convenient that she needs to hide out and keep a low profile and then gets sent back to her small hometown, isn't it? Of course, this thief wants nothing to do with the kids and decides to take advantage of the Christmas season by having a neighborhood holiday party at her sister's house and then sneaking out to steal everyone's Christmas presents. No one would have ever seen coming that in the end our bad girl isn't so bad after all.

I thought this movie sucked. Shannen Doherty is not that great of an actress and I found it annoying how everyone in her hometown seemed to know her so well yet none of them - including her high school sweetheart boyfriend who is now a cop - seemed to know what she did for a living. Someone would ask! I mean, not that she would tell the truth but there would be some suspicious rumors spread around a small town like this. Plus, we are supposed to believe that the high school boyfriend has been pining away for her for fifteen years or whatever it's been? I love the old 'evildoer turns good because of the season' plotline but this one just didn't do enough to show me why there would be a transformation.

Your Life Work: The Librarian

Someone posted a link to this YouTube Video on one of the library listservs I'm on. It's a video from 1946 inviting people to the librarian profession. Kinda funny.

Book Review: On Chesil Beach

"This is how the entire course of a life can be changed - by doing nothing."

That's a quote at the end of the book I just finished reading called On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I like the quote a lot and its implication that not only do your actions affect your life but your nonactions do also. In the story, the main character basically just lets his wife walk away after an argument - he doesn't go after her and he doesn't try to settle their problems - and they never see each other again and yet he basically stays in love with her his whole life. Sad. But other than that, the whole premise of the book is so bizarre. It starts on the couple's wedding night and goes through, play by play, their troubles with consummating their marriage. He's overeager; she's very reluctant and quite honestly, disgusted by sex.

Work Holiday Party

The holiday party that I've been dreading for weeks was last night and it went okay. I knew it wouldn't be as bad as I was imagining but it did have its crappy moments. I do like enough of my coworkers to know that it wouldn't be all bad. Everyone said the night is made or broken by who you sit with and well, I got stuck sitting next to possibly the person I dislike the most in the office and her husband. But I made the most of it. The food was pretty good. The drinks were good. Actually, the drinks were too good. I had a lot to drink. I had two glasses of champagne and four whiskey sours and then a beer later when we went to the local sports bar. Most of all, I'm glad it's over for a year!