Random Eight

Jessica tagged me for the Eight Random Things meme. Okay, I'm unleashing my innner weirdo.

1. I'm naturally a night-owl and have chronic insomnia, but I have a hard time forcing myself to go to bed when I'm tired. Of course, I'm usually sleepy between 5:00 and 7:00pm when it's too early for bed. By the time it's a reasonable bedtime, I'm wide awake. Despite hating to get out of bed in the morning, I'm pretty happy once I'm up and moving.

2. My memory for some details is really great--I can remember in detail the outfits my friends and I rocked in junior high--but I have to put everything on my Outlook calendar or I won't know what I'm supposed to be doing, or where that event is taking place.

3. I procrastinate even when I benefit from getting something done, like depositing checks, requesting reimbursements, or going to the grocery store when my fridge is empty.

4. I have very neat handwriting and honestly think that people who don't are just lazy. Unless they're little children or have a disability, of course.

5. Some weekends, I don't step foot outside my house from the time I get home on Friday night to the time I leave for work on Monday morning. There's nowhere in town to just hang out alone, anyway.

6. I'm a water connoisseur. I detest Evian because it tastes of silica. There's a WY-produced water called AquaVista that's like gross tap water. I generally prefer still water to sparkling, but sometimes want some fizz. Favorite brands: Aspen Pure, Volvic, Le Bleu, Ty Nant, and Ramlösa. Fiji is very good, too, but loses points for the square bottle that doesn't fit in my cup holder. I work on a Pepsi campus, so the best I can get at work is Aquafina. At that price point, I prefer Coke's Desani. That said, I'm really trying to save money and buy less plastic, so I use a Britta pitcher at home. I filter all the water I drink and cook with. I will say in all seriousness, "I made some water" when offering up beverage choices, and my friends either use the same expression or at least know what it means. Are you afraid of me now?

7. People who know me in real life think I'm an outgoing extrovert, because I love working with people and spending time with friends. But I need a lot of solitary time and there are some activities I have a hard time doing with other people, like watching television or film. It's hard for me to live with another person because I need my home to be just mine. On the flipside, sharing hotel rooms with friends/colleagues and having or being a houseguest is kind of fun.

8. Believe it or not, there are lots of people out there who share my first name. Most of them spell it Kaisa or Kajsa; Kaijsa is a much less common version. My middle name is Joi, after a dear friend of my mother, and I've never encountered anybody else with the name spelled this way.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged. Or not. Whatever. Stop looking at me like that.

Back to the 206

Jon Auer sings "Golden Blunders"

By 10:00ish tonight, I'll be in Seattle. This in itself is awesome, but on Friday I also get to see the Posies acoustic show at the Triple Door. Imagine the (already perfect) video above only twice as awesome because Ken will be there, too! I'm pretty sure I've seen the Posies more times than any other band. It's been a few years since I last saw them, so I'm ready. Speaking of, I need to find the list I used to keep of all the shows I saw, circa 1989-1993. It's a long list.

Un-gentle reader

Fun feet for Monday

I let a month lapse without updates, mostly because I've been focusing on the book blog. When I get started on a project, I tend to get obsessed. That's why I don't allow myself to collect anything seriously. I'd go broke. My goal for 2007 was to read 52 books in 52 weeks. I got off to a slow start, reading just two books in January. During February and March, I did better, with three and four books, respectively. But I got on a serious roll in April, to the detriment of most everything else in my life. I read 12 books in April! So, entering the 18th week of the year, I've finished 23 books. Of course, a lot of them were young adult fiction and mysteries, so it wasn't hard to get this far.

home again!

Is it hot in here?

I'm back from Baltimore and am too tired to think. As soon as I get done writing up my travel report for work, I'll be more forthcoming here. I just have to write this up before it all falls out of my head!

Did Somebody Say Crab Cakes?

See those little snowflakes above? I get to miss them!

I'm on the reference desk tonight until 10:00 and then go home to finish packing before getting up at 5:00 to make the drive to Denver with my colleagues. We don't arrive in Baltimore until 5:00-ish EST, so I'm hoping to nap on the plane. I'm tempting fate by bringing library books with me, but I need to keep up my 52 books in 52 weeks personal dork challenge.

Not many of my library school friends are going to ACRL this year, which is a bummer. On the plus side, I'm rooming with a friend from Washington and all my former and current colleagues are at the same hotel. Much revelry should ensue. I'm blogging the conference this year, so if you're interested, you can check out what I'm up to there. Most of the sessions I'm planning to cover are on emerging technologies, either social networking or instructional, or instruction in general. I'll be on Twitter, too.

Already on my non-conference agenda are crab cakes at Faidley's, mussels at Bertha's, and a visit to the American Visionary Art Museum. Cocktail time will take place at some point. Although I don't want to miss Nina Totenberg, I'm sorely tempted to skip the closing keynote to see the Postsecret show at AVAM before heading to the airport. Speaking of keynotes, I'm pretty excited for John Waters at the keynote luncheon. ACRL is such a crazy short conference and there are many sessions I want to see, so it will be difficult to see and/or meet everybody I'd like to. I'm wishing I'd tacked on a day of vacation at the end to allow for more sightseeing. I don't know if I'll have time to see any of the Poe sights.

More from Baltimore.

Happy Anniversary

vanilla stoli and diet coke at Lovejoys

I've officially been in Laramie for a year now; tomorrow I'll have been at my job for a year, too. To celebrate, a couple of my friends and I went out on the town last night for some adult beverages and appetizers. It was kind of nice to be out on a quiet Sunday evening, when the bars aren't crowded with students. I even broke out of my Jack & 7 rut after my first drink, which could have been why I woke up with a headache. Diet soda is evil.

Anyway, I made it. The year went by so quickly that I think I can easily stick it out here for a few more. While I miss the water, the weather, and the beauty of home (not to mention friends and family), I really like my job and the people I've met here. So, Laramie, I tip my 40 to you.

What are you reading?

My latest obsession is getting back to reading for fun. I say obsession because I have an obsessive personality and can't just do something a little. No, I turn everything into a challenge. I'm hoping to read an average of a book a week, which is 52 books in 2007. Yes, the idea is shamelessly stolen from Doppelganger's 50 Books, which I've been reading for quite a while. Of course, I had to top 50. I'm nothing if not competitive.

You can follow my progress at Kaijsa Reads, if you're interested. Yes, I started yet another blog. I needed to keep it separate from my crazy ramblings over here for my own sanity. Also, I like the aesthetic of just having sequentially numbered posts there with nothing else going on. I'm not pretending that makes sense--you remember the crazy part I mentioned above, right? So anyway, I don't promise super interesting book reviews. Sometimes I have lots to say about a book and other times I just want to name it and be done with it. It has been nice to get back to fiction; it makes a nice change from reading LIS articles and spending too much time reading librarian blogs--not that I've stopped doing either one of those things. I've fallen into a tiny mystery and YA fiction rut, but I vow to read some literary novels again, too.

Reading suggestions are welcome, as I tend to be kind of unimaginative sometimes. Just beware that if you suggest anything inspirational, I will make fun of you. Yeah, I'm a jerk.

Ben Gibbard, why don't you love me?

So, Ben Gibbard is embarking on a solo tour in May, and not only are none of the dates in Denver, but I miss him in Seattle by five days. He obviously doesn't care about me at all. The Google map tells me that it's only a 13 hour drive to Minneapolis and 16-ish to Portland or Austin. I don't know if I'm up for a huge road trip, but it could be fun.

In other concert news, I'm trying to figure out if I should plan on the Decemberists on April 22. It's a Sunday and it's kind of expensive. I see the tickets are almost gone, though. I have to figure it out soon.

Vote for SJ

My awesome friend SJ, who has the funniest and most finely crafted blog ever, entered the BlogHer Academy Award Speech contest. SJ never asks for votes for blog awards, etc., but this time the prize is free conference registration at BlogHer 07, so the stakes are higher. If you're so inclined, see her entry here for all the details.

Art Appreciation

Coffee Art

It figures that as soon as I post about my weather-related ennui, we have three days in the 40s. Maybe I should complain more often. Of course, the melting snow has turned my unpaved into a mess of slush and mud two feet deep, with huge ruts and leftover snowdrifts here and there--good thing I bought that SUV. It's odd how my mood has improved now that I've been able to go outside without bundling up and with no danger of my face freezing off. I've been oddly productive this week.

My two stays in the city lately have left me in withdrawls from things like films in limited release, delicious and beautiful coffees, and something cool to do every night. That added to my afforementioned ennui. On Friday night, I was reminded of the really unique things that happen here, though. I have season tickets to the cultural programs series here on campus and the spring series started on Friday. Violinist Benny Kim premiered a new piece commissioned by the university and four other Wyoming community arts associations. That's pretty cool. I've been constantly surprised and impressed with the variety and quality of the arts here and sometimes need to remind myself that the big cities don't have a monopoly on culture.

Another cool thing I did recently was attend the art museum's latest exhibits opening reception. The Kararina Kaikkonen installation is amazing and has to be seen to be believed. I'd love to see more of her work. Everything up right now is awesome, but I especially loved the American Modernists and Women's Work, a century of art by women. The reception was also included the awards ceremony for the Student Juried Exhibition. There is a lot of great work in the show and I was excited that one of my favorite paintings was selected for a UW Libraries purchase award. Our fine arts librarian selected our two purchase award winners, so we'll have two new paintings up here when the student show is over. Very cool. As an aside, you can see some of the great looks people were wearing at the museum over at Wyoming Style Report.

There are actually lots of cool things happening here. Right now I'm missing Second City for free on campus because I'm on the reference desk. I'm kicking myself for not subscribing to the theatre and dance series. Because I procrastinated, I'm missing Spinning into Butter because it sold out. I'm figuring out when to see ...the body through which the dream flows before that sells out, too.

I guess I'm pretty satisfied with all that. But not with the terrible coffee I just drank. What I wouldn't do for another latte from Vivace like the one above.

This past week or so has been really difficult. The unrelenting cold, the bleak landscape, and the vast whiteness all around me have made me question how I'm going to survive the next few months here. This isn't what I'm used to. I'm used to being surrounded by green all year long. To huge bodies of blue water. To grey skies, heavy with moisture. To 200 days of drizzle followed by a brief, but stunningly beautiful summer and the loveliest warm autumn.

People who aren't from the PNW get depressed by the dark, overcast days. I never understood that because the heavy, grey rain was always so comforting to me. The weather was mild and didn't ever deter me from going about my life. In fact, there's nothing I like better than sitting in the steamed-up window of a coffee shop, looking out at the rain in the street. It's cozy.

Now I think I understand what it feels like when the weather affects your mood. This winter is getting me down. I stay indoors as much as possible because the sub-zero temperatures are torture. I haven't worn contacts in three months because they either freeze or the wind blows them out of my eyes. Looking out at the huge snowdrifts and frozen streets makes me feel panicky and trapped. It's weird how all this land can make me feel so claustrophobic, but the city energizes me. I don't know how I'd be feeling if I hadn't spent three of the last seven weeks in Seattle, with less than two weeks to go before another long weekend visit. I know this can't last forever, but it's getting to me.

Indeed

Cass sent me this awesome label. When we were in Seattle getting our fab haircuts, we decided that we needed salon stage names for when we eventually go to beauty school. Cass decided on Muffin Top and I'm going to be Robot. Between my delight of the 30 Rock quote above and our robotic encounters, I think robots became the unofficial theme of the trip. Check it:

Cass gets snuggly with Rad 2.0

Robot love at the ALA exhibit hall

I'm finally an aunt!

My mom holding her first grandchild

My nephew finally arrived! He was due while I was in Seattle for ALA, but stubbornly decided to wait to debut until the day after I left. In my admittedly biased opinion, he's beautiful. I'm in the midst of coordinating a long weekend trip back home in February--I need to exercise my baby-holding privileges as soon as possible. My brother and sister-in-law are doing well and are definitely going to be great parents. My parents are over the moon in love with this little guy. It's hard to believe they're grandparents.

Wu are you?

Hello, friends. Out of nostalgia, I visited the Wu Name Generator during my reference shift. My name is Excitable Misunderstood Genius. Yes, I live in 2002.

I'm semi-freshly back from Midwinter and I'm still kind of thinking over the sessions I attended. OCLC had a bunch of social networking stuff which got me excited to try to implement some at my library. It's always nice to hear from other academic librarians and find out what works for them and what doesn't. I'm trying to formulate a post on the subject for Library Talk. Speaking of LT, I don't think I ever mentioned it here. Jessica started LT recently as a place to talk about library issues. Even though I've been a little lax about my participation during my vacation and during ALA, I think it's awesome. I tend to stay inside my academic librarian mindset, so widening my professional circle is a good thing.

I want to leave you with the coolest thing I've found in a while. iConcertCal is a plug-in for iTunes that searches the web for live shows that match the bands in your library. I'm on upcoming, but I'm more interested in finding events than adding my own. I'm lazy. I was telling Cass today that I wish there was a mashup of upcoming and iConcertCal that would combine the web-searching and music library matching with the social networking aspect of upcoming. She thought it would be cool if the MySpace events function worked like upcoming, too. Yes, please.

Bests of 2006

Okay, I'm inflicting a list on you. I hardly ever do this, but 2006 was a weird year for me and I am compelled to document the things that made it fun.

Best Albums

Decemberists: Crane Wife
Colin Meloy played a few songs from this album at the 826 benefit in August (see below) and it made me even more excited for the release in October. So good.

Band of Horses: Everything All the Time
Lovely. I know it's on everybody's list right now, but that's for good reason. "Funeral" and "The Great Salt Lake" are great songs, but dig deeper because the whole album is great.

Silversun Pickups: Carnavas
This gets a lot of play on my ipod. My favorite tracks are "Checkered Floor" and "Future Foe Scenerios." Yeah, Pitchfork only gave it a 5 and I've read several other reviews claiming the band is too derivative of late 80s-early 90s rock--Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.--but I'd argue their sound is more a distillation of what was good about that music, with none of the annoying stuff (like Corgan's whiny voice).

Jon Auer: Songs from the Year of Our Demise
I waited years for this release, and it lives up to my expectations. If I have one criticism it's that the songs are even prettier when Jon plays them acoustic, without any of the added layers of sound. Check out his appearances on KEXP last April and August if you want to hear what I'm talking about. But SftYoOD is a beautiful, beautiful album that you need to hear. A couple of mp3s are available at Pattern 25.

Ghostland Observatory: Paparazzi Lightning
This is just fun. "Vibrate" has to be my favorite song, but I like it all. Discovering them (thanks, Cass) reminds me of Bumbershoot (2004?) when I walked into Sky Church to see Math & Physics Club and United State of Electronica was still playing and it was dancy, dancy fun all over the place--only BETTER. GO rocks all.

Best Live Shows

Silversun Pickups/Viva Voce @ Hi-dive (Denver, not Seattle)
I came for Silversun Pickups and was not disappointed. I can't remember seeing a live band this good for about ten years. For serious. My faith in the crunchy guitar rock has been restored! Viva Voce was really good, too. I finally picked up "Get Yr Blood Sucked Out" the other day and I recommend it. It's not on the best list because I didn't get into it until the last week of 06 and I don't know if it rates yet.

Ghostland Observatory @ Hi-dive (Denver)
I posted about this back in August, but will reiterate what a great show it was. If Ghostland is playing near you, go see them.

the Gossip @ Bumbershoot
Why had I never seen the Gossip live before? I knew I liked them well enough to check them out at Bumbershoot, but I was pretty impressed. As soon as I got back home I was digging through my mp3s to find some of their stuff and have since been grabbing up their back catalog.

826 Seattle Benefit before Bumbershoot
I'm so happy Mel got us tickets to this. I was psyched to see Ben Gibbard and Sarah Vowell, but the whole thing was awesome. Some enterprising people YouTubed some of it. Check out Colin Meloy's acoustic "O, Valencia!" So awesome. And the Meloy-Gibbard combo just about blew me away with its sheer adorableness. The Seattle Times (kind of) liked it, too. Eggers reviewed the audience, glowingly, in the Stranger.

Best Awesome Internet Retailers Who Allow Me To Live in Wyoming and Still Occasionally Buy Good Stuff

Sonic Boom
What's not to love about a record store that always has what I want and has friendly staff? I go in every time I'm back in Seattle because there's stuff I can't get in WY. Plus they always send nice messages when I order online.

Peggy Li
Peggy made some of my favorite pieces ever, like the slide oval choker I should wear more often and the bird charm necklace I wear several times a week.

Nordstrom
The supplier of my favorite jeans, the perfect t-shirt, and many things I don't need.

Etsy, specifically Orange Peel Enamel and Adorn Jewelery
I love the jewelery too much and these two make beautiful stuff.

Zappos
Shoes! Free shipping! And too many cute Campers for me to buy on my salary.

Best Blogs

I, Asshole
The one, the only. SJ's writing is indescribable, in a good way. From PNW'ed to Mal Mots, it's gold. Never go away again, Lady!

The Rich Girls Are Weeping
An mp3 blog all about the indie rock, but with a healthy and not snarkily ironic dash of old standbys like Harry Nilsson and Joan Baez. And it's not just a bunch of links to music; Cindy and Pinkie write really great posts about the music.

Gwen World
Gwen's is probably the first blog("online diary") I ever read. She kicks so much ass you can't even imagine it. She also writes books, and you should read them. If you're a librarian like me, you should buy them for your library.

50 Books
Thanks to Doppelganger, my to-read list is longer than my lifespan is likely to accommodate.

Go Fug Yourself
Celebrities wear stupid stuff sometimes. It's fun to watch them do it.

What, No Best Books?

Well, I didn't really read any knock-my-socks-off books this year. I can't remember if I ever managed to post about the NYT "10 Best Books of 2006" or not. I'm guessing not. Of the alleged best books of the year, I've read exactly none of them. Ha! I mean, not that I think the Times knows all, but it still cracks me up. I also didn't read anything on the best lists of PW, the Times of London, or even the Seattle Times. Maybe next year.

I'm it

Jessica tagged me with the "Five Things You Probably Don't Know About Me" meme. So here goes.

1. I get obsessive about things. Like when I found a (pretty affordable) cashmere v-neck sweater, I bought one in every color they had and still make sure I check back every season to make sure I get the new shades. I have to restrain myself from doing this with everything I love, from lipgloss to iittala glass cards. The rampant consumerist inside me is embarrassing.

2. If I had to choose between books and music, I'd choose music. Bad librarian! I saw more than 50 bands (I kept a list) the summer after I graduated high school and don't regret not saving my graduation money for college. I wish that many good shows were happening these days. R.I.P. Seattle of 1992.

3. I got five speeding tickets during my first two years as a licensed driver. At one point I was in danger of being sent to traffic school. I also crashed my parents' minivan when I still just had a learner's permit. Believe it or not, I'm very responsible now and haven't been ticketed in almost 15 years.

4. I am ashamed of my car. For ten years, I drove a little Neon with no frills and good gas milage. After moving, I got an SUV. It's a little one, but I still feel guilty whenever I drive it--especially because I'm almost always alone now. I miss the bus, even though this car is the nicest one I've ever owned with leather and everything. Residual urban guilt is hard to shake.

5. My favorite smell is the ocean. In close second is asphalt right when it starts to rain--that dirty, oily scent mixed with fresh Pacific Northwest air. I really miss the grey and the rain. Wyoming is alltogether too sunny for my taste, but at least I'm getting some vitamin D.

I'm not explicitly tagging anybody, but if you read me and feel inclined to do this, go ahead.

Homeward bound

The holiday rush at the Laramie Airport

There are a couple of nice things about flying out of Laramie that balance out the cost and massive turbulance in the prop plane. The most awesome is free wireless. Another is only having to check in an hour before the flight. There's also the crowd issue. As you can see, I'm not exactly cramped for space here. It looks like it will be me and two guys on this flight.

After a night in a nice hotel near DIA, I'll be home early tomorrow! First on the agenda is talking the dog in for her checkup and then burgers at Burgermaster with the dogs and my parents.

Abbie Update

I forgot to report what we found out about Abbie. It's mostly better news than I expected. What the vet initially thought was a mass in her gut seems to be a lot of extra air from all the panting she's been doing because she's in pain. Her chem panel came back fine--one of her liver enzymes is a little wacky, but she's old and has a history of that. The radiologist figured out what was causing all the pain: the connective tissue in her spine is bulging and pressing on her nerves.

Abbie's been on the dog version of bed rest for the past ten days or so. She's not allowed to run or sit up human-style, which she loves to do for some reason. My mom said she's doing okay, but we're taking her for a check-up on Wednesday right after I get off the plane.

I'm not sure how much I'll update over the next two weeks, but I'm sure I'll have lots of dopey pictures!

Abbie

My mom called today and told me my dog, who now lives with my parents, is sick. She's had liver problems in the past but has been pretty healthy for a couple of years. Abbie has a big mass in her abdomen, so she had x-rays and a biopsy today. We'll know more after the radiologist takes a look at her films. She'll likely have get an ultrasound next week, and she's off her pain meds (for joint pain) so her liver isn't so taxed.

It was hard to leave her behind when I moved, even though I know she's better off not being cooped up alone while I'm at work every day. Abbie's getting close to nine years old, but I'm not ready to lose her. I still think of her as my little baby, like this:

Taken the day we brought her home in June 1998. She was four weeks old.

Abbie all grown up

I'm really glad I'm going home in ten days to spend a couple of weeks with her. With midwinter in Seattle in January, I'll get a few more days with her soon after, as well. It sounds awful, but missing Abbie is harder than missing the people I left. The phone and email keep me in touch with friends and family, but there's nothing like that that works for dogs.

one more thing on last.fm, etc.

Instead of entering your Pandora username and password on a third-party site, you can use a Firefox plugin to scrobble your streams into last.fm. I love that.

Speaking of extensions, my library finally has a LibX toolbar plugin and it's great. I just added it today and I'm already instinctively going to it instead of constantly going to the homepage. The only problem is my toolbar is getting crazy crowded. Even though I use blummy, I have 21 bookmarks I use so often I need one-click access to them. If the meebo link wasn't staring me in the face, I'd forget to log in every day and I need to leave it up if IM at work is going to be useful. It's weird how everybody works differently. I like as few windows as possible, so I keep many, many tabs open as I work. My dream would be for everything in the universe to work like a combination of firefox and tivo.