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.