Terminal weekend

For the last weekend before fall semester, I had planned to do tons of laundry and pack for my impending trip to Seattle. By Friday afternoon, I had already made plans for that night and Saturday afternoon. My quiet weekend was off to a busy start.

I saw Superbad at the late show on Friday. It was pretty funny. That's high praise from me, as most comedies don't make me laugh. I sometimes forget that I don't often laugh out loud or even smile at jokes. One of the people I went with asked if I liked the movie because she didn't hear me laugh at all. When friends and I are goofing around, I laugh a lot, and I'm a pretty happy person, but I just don't think the majority of "comedy" is that funny. I was reasonably sure the people behind Freaks and Geeks and Knocked Up would bring the goods, but then again, I though The 40 Year Old Virgin was just okay. But Superbad left me satisfied and smiling, to paraphrase The Office.

On Saturday afternoon, I went to the vertical dance performance up at Vedauwoo. It was pretty cool. I took about 50 pictures, and some of them turned out well. Here are a couple of shots of the pieces I especially liked. You can see more on my flickr site, if you want.

Cool pas de deux

I think this piece was called "Dragonflies," but my program's in another room and I'm too lazy to go get it right now. These two dancers did a lot of mirroring movements, which I thought was pretty awesome. The other piece I liked a lot was performed by the same dancers. At least I think so.

Very pretty

You can't tell from this shot, but there's another dancer on the rock, holding on to the other end of the red sash. It was probably windier than they'd planned for, but the effect was really cool.

I did a couple of other things this weekend, but I won't bore you with the details. In other news, it's the first day of classes! I'm here today and tomorrow, and then I fly back to Seattle for a week. Prepare yourselves for too many pictures of Bumbershoot, random buildings, and everything I eat while I'm there. It should be fun!

bad shopper

Every once in a while (read: daily), when I'm trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack, I realize what a terrible shopper I am. Clothing-wise, I'm a bad shopper because I can hardly resist buying stuff, especially dresses, shoes, and bags. Food and household goods-wise, I just can't do it properly to save my life. What's weird is I used to love grocery shopping, especially late at night. Now that I live in the land of two choices, both of which close at 11pm and neither of which has anything very interesting, I can't manage.

Usually, I try to just make my way around the periphery of the grocery store so I can at least get dairy, meat, and produce before bailing with half my poorly-crafted list left undone. This means I often don't get around to picking up necessary things like toilet paper or you know, cooking oil, until I'm almost out. When I do wander into the center isles, it's like a switch flips and I become impulsive and unable to concentrate. Which might explain this cupboard.

None of these things go together. Also, every time I'm getting ready to go out of town, I decide I'm just going to eat what I have and not shop until I get back. Good theory, if in fact I had anything to eat and/or I didn't go on shopping strike two weeks before my trip. Think I can make a meal out of an apple, some salsa verde, and two shriveled limes?

Did you notice I have a jar of fig paste in the fridge and another unopened one in the cupboard? Also, you can see two kinds of cheese here, but there are five more varieties in the door. Who does this? It's a good thing I don't have kids because I'd end up feeding them nothing but hors d’œuvres.

It's a good thing I take after Jerry Seinfeld and keep far more boxes of cereal around than one person living alone really needs. I had raisin bran for dinner.

Before the storm

Windmill and angry sky

I went to a barbecue at a colleague's farm last night. We had just finished eating when the storm finally started up. We cleaned up and scurried inside, but I stayed out to take some pictures until the wind and rain really started up in earnest.

Facing the opposite direction from the windmill shot

The sunset started out pretty, but the clouds brought dark too quickly. We've been having really pretty sunsets lately, and I'm sad I keep neglecting to take pictures. One night this weekend (I'm pretty sure it was Saturday), the sunset was really pink and spectacular. I was driving home, so I was facing west, but I was right in a commercial area and had no decent vantage point. By the time I got home, I'd missed the best of it.

So anyway, we all went inside. The kids had to stop jumping on the trampoline, so they played video games and all the adults were chatting over the howling winds. Then the power went out. After we determined the lightning wasn't going to stop, everybody took off. The drive home was freaky. I'm not the most confident when driving alone in the country at night, and the extreme darkness, standing water on the roads, and massive lightning was kind of scary. I'm glad my phone rang so I had somebody to talk to while I drove back to town. That was nice.

It's raining, it's pouring

From my vantage point at the reference desk, I can see the rain dumping down and it's making me itchy. Sometimes when it storms here, I can barely restrain myself from running out and dancing in it. Not so practical during the work day, I'm afraid. I'm off duty in a half hour or so, though.

Crap, it stopped.

Take the Quiz here!

In which I explode, then ramble

The DSL is still out, and Qwest has made me hate them ten times more than I already did by making me wait around from 10-2 for a technician who never showed up, and when I called to complain, they told me he would come back after 4:30. I thought that was fishy, but they promised. So I was dying to get out of the house and ended up hanging out and talking to a friend for a couple of hours. When I got home at 4:27, I found a message on my machine from 4:03 from the tech saying he was sorry he missed me. I called him and gave him an earful, but he claimed it was too late and he'd maybe get to me tomorrow, but would probably call Monday. HATE!

To calm myself and pass some time at home, with no internet, no cable, no unwatched Netflix, no other people, no unwashed dishes, no chores I felt like doing, I decided to read the rest of my current book, which is excellent. Then I went to the evil empire of Marts and bought a bike pump and a lock so I can finally maybe start riding the bike. It's so clever of me to finally get around to this after the bulk of the summer has already slipped away, but it's also quite typical of me. To be perfectly honest. So that's what I plan to try tomorrow.

Now I'm at a coffee shop with wireless, but not the one I was at the other night. I didn't like this one when I first moved here, but it's working for me tonight. Plus I can get to Google/Blogger here. So win-win-win. Oh, ha! A fellow laptopper in here just answered his phone and his ringtone is "Uptown Girl." For some reason that cracks me right up. This reminds me of a half-baked theory I have about being able to tell a lot about a person by their choice of ringtones.

I used to have a similar theory about music collections and pretentiously would judge people, especially guys, based on their musical taste. I'm sure I was insufferable. During my first year of college, I remember a boy coming to pick me up for a date. We'll call him A. I had met him at church camp when I was 15 and we had one of those famously dramatic camp romances and then exchanged a couple of letters (remember life before email) before forgetting about one another. The 30 miles between us might as well have been 1000 when we were too young to drive. So anyway, I worked at the ice cream store a couple of years later with girl who went to the same private school as A. She invited me to a party at her house and this boy came, but I didn't show up because I got nervous at the last-minute. So he suavely called me from her house and we made a date for the next weekend.

So I was all ready for him to pick me up and was quietly freaking out. Then, in the distance I heard the distinctive sound of a boom car and my heart filled with dread. He rolled up to my parents' house in a VW Rabbit that was totally pimped out and lowered. I was horrified, standing there in all black (down to the fingernails and excess of eyeliner). A was super cute in that rich white b-boy way you might remember from the early 90s, but I was firmly into skater boys and surly punks. When I got in the car, I realized the booming bass was coming from a Depeche Mode CD, which was pretty cute because he had dedicated DM's "Somebody" to me at the end-of-camp dance and we had danced romantically to it. He handed me a CD case full of stuff I really, really liked and said I could pick all the music.

A., who lived in Ballard, had driven all the way up to my hometown to get me and then turned around and took me back to Seattle to hang out. At one point early in the drive, he braked hard, and a huge stream of CDs came sliding out from under the passenger seat--all rap and hip-hop. He had obviously hidden all the stuff he thought I wouldn't like because he intuitively knew I was a snob. He was embarrassed and I was totally charmed. We only went out for a few months before drifting apart for good. I should have known it wouldn't work out when he was skeeved out by Beth's and didn't like Capitol Hill because of all the "weirdos."

For years, I still thought musical taste was the way to determine my compatibility with other people. So much of my social life has revolved around music. There's a soundtrack to my life and I've formed and strengthened most of my friendships while listening to an album in somebody's room, or at a show, or while talking about bands. I admit I once thought I could never be with somebody who doesn't share this with me, but I'm letting that go. I'm still totally obsessed with music, but there are so many other ways of connecting. Maybe I'm only just figuring this out now because I'm living here where there's really no music scene like I'm used to and I meet people in new ways now. I'll still listen to the Posies, but I'll listen to your stuff, too. Even if I don't like it.

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

62% Affectionate, 59% Excitable, 33% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Wednesday night thoughts

Rick and I are sitting in the coffee shop, only I'm drinking wine. Coffee shop with wine doesn't really compute to this Sea-town lady, but I'm not going to argue. I told him that I was going to post about how cool he is, and I don't think he believes me. So, I guess I should say he's pretty much awesome. Of course, I'm completely awesome. Right?

It really annoys me that I can open Gmail, but can't get to Google or log into Blogger using the wireless here. Why are they effing with me? You can't just cut me off from the Death Star of the intertubes like that, especially when I'm already feeling crabby. Maybe the wine is my consolation prize. It just irks me that I'm going to have to wait to post this until morning.

Not too much is shakin' around these parts right now. I'm trying to motivate myself to power through all the work I need to get done in the remaining 20 days or so before school starts. I'm making a little progress, but it would be so much more appealing to have some time off and just chill out for a while. I think one of my goals in life is to chill. If only I could turn my brain off for a while.

I took that yesterday afternoon in the park. I wasn't lying down, looking up, but I wish I was. The grass was really long and wet, though. All the rain lately has made everything green and pretty, which I like. I'm still getting used to the way it rains here. The storms are cool, but are over too quickly for my taste. One of these afternoons, I'm gonna get in my car and go somewhere cool to watch the lightning.

Pro/Con

I'm struggling with a decision. Well, not exactly--struggling implies that I'm spending a lot of time going back and forth. It's more of a waffle than a struggle. Anyway, I'm trying to decide between getting Monolith tickets or to go to my state library association conference. I already have the vacation day approved in case the concert wins out and it's really only an issue for Friday, which happens to be the day I most want to go to the festival. I'm working on a pro/con list for each.

Monolith pros: the Decemberists live (finally), Ghostland Observatory (again), pretty reasonably priced festival, great venue. Cons: interested but not obsessed with most of lineup, potential for major concert fatigue (Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem the following Monday).

Conference pros: professional engagement, seems like more responsible choice, paid for by my library, excellent keynote speakers. Cons: already feeling conferenced out (3 so far in 2007) and facing both ALAs in 08, not as much fun as a concert.

Ugh, I don't know.

On to something completely unrelated. For the past few weeks I've noticed a lot of people are finding this blog by searching for "why don't you love me." There are so many reasons people might use those search terms, but I still find it sad and sweet. I'm sorry I don't have any answers. It's not a subject for which I claim any expertise.

Silversun Pickups w/ Sea Wolf at the Ogden Theatre

It's been several long months since my last live music outing, and I was especially excited to see sspu again. The opening band was sspu's Dangerbird labelmate Sea Wolf, which I know I've heard of before but was probably confusing with another band. As I asked my friends last night, can we please call a halt to bands using wolf in their names? Anyway, Sea Wolf didn't grab me right away, but about three songs in, they started rocking harder. I wasn't really paying too close of attention to the lyrics, but some of them were a little awkward. I'll have to listen to them some more before I can tell whether I like them or not.

Silversun Pickups were awesome, though. They played almost everything from Carnavas, but I was a bit disappointed there was no "Melatonin." I LOVE that song. But the show was great, especially when they went from "Lazy Eye" right into "Common Reactor." So crazy good. The encore was mostly stuff from their EP, which is pretty awesome, too. But they began with a cover that surprised and delighted.



Enjoy!

Edit: Cass's pictures and video turned out much better than mine. Check out her post on Wyoming Beat.

What book am I

Hey, I got one of my favorite books!

You're Mrs. Dalloway!
by Virginia Woolf
Your life seems utterly bland and normal to the casual observer, but
inside you are churning with a million tensions and worries. The company you surround
yourself with may be shallow, but their effects upon your reality are tremendously deep.
To stay above water, you must try to act like nothing's wrong, but you know that the
truth is catching up with you. You're not crazy, you're just a little unwell. But no
doctor can help you now.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Weekend culture

On Friday, I went to see Alonzo King's Lines Ballet. I didn't know much about the company, and I was really pleasantly surprised with their work. The company they brought had four men and four women, and both ballets used interesting groupings and a really innovative movement vocabulary. The first piece, Migration: The hierarchical migration of birds and mammals was very cool, though the music was really hard to listen to. The choreography was interesting and I was impressed with the dancers. I really, really liked the second ballet, The Moroccan Project.

The Lines Ballet was here for the summer dance festival on campus. As a dance junkie, I was sad to miss the student showcase on Wednesday because of my evening desk shift, but I did have tickets to both Friday's ballet and the final gala show on Saturday. But I ended up chucking the second performance to spend time with friends at a completely different kind of cultural event.

Here I am enjoying the action

Last night I experienced my first demolition derby. Last week's heavy rain muddied up the fairgrounds, slowing the action quite a bit. I was a little disappointed because I was expecting more action-packed crashing about. The photo ops were a bit limited, so I only snapped a few. Still, it was a fun enough evening and a real change of pace for me.

Blue Monday

It's another Monday, but thanks to music blogs like lamestain, I've been listening to old favorites like Love Battery and Flop all morning. I was pretty happy to read their entry on Flop and to get Drugs/Action in mp3; I have it on vinyl, but am living sans record player right now. Other music blogs I'm currently loving include Detailed Twang, Merry Swankster, Seattle Powerpop Blog, and of course Wyoming Beat and KEXP.

Yeah, this post has nothing to do with New Order.

smooch

While looking at restaurant info on Citysearch, I came across their "Best Spots to Kiss in Seattle" list, which I found underwhelming. I agree that the Bainbridge Island ferry is a good choice, but the rest of the list was mostly full of restaurants. Boring. So, this bored librarian spent her lunch putting together her own list. I widened my radius a bit, moving north from Seattle to include some Snohomish County favorites from my teen years. After all, those were prime make-out years, right?

1. Howarth Park (Everett): Water, sand beach, railroad, pedestrian bridge with viewpoint, beautiful view of Mount Baker, wetlands trail. Lovely.
2. Granite Falls (Granite Falls): Not the biggest falls around, but points for proximity to my hometown. Easy to get to and pretty.
3. Rucker's Tomb at Evergreen Cemetary (Everett): A classic. I found a flickr user with a set of awesome photos of the place.
4. Bridal Veils Falls (Index): Who doesn't love waterfalls? And these are stunning.
5. Legion Park (Everett): On a bluff overlooking the bay, super pretty and right in town.
6. Fremont Canal Park: Sure, it's overrun with joggers, but the it's a nice place to walk and feels a little secluded even though it's right next to the busy part of Fremont.
7. Gasworks Park: Specifically the sundial, specifically at night. The old gas works are creepy cool, too.
8. Kerry Park: It's a cliche for a reason. Probably the prettiest view in all of Seattle, with sculptures. Within walking distance of ice cream and good coffee.
9. University of Washington quad: Pretty year-round, but especially so during spring and summer, when the grass is dry enough to sit on.
10. The once and only Cafe Paradiso (R.I.P.): Now a Cafe Vita, and still pretty cool, this was the only coffee house that ever rivaled my affection for Bauhaus. It was a better kissing spot, though.

Moral of the story: I think I like parks.
EDIT: I realize now that Kerry Park is on both lists. Like I said, I know it's a cliche, but it's pretty.

vacation catch-up

More of the sunset at Jackson Lake

My trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone last week was really nice. The purpose of the trip was to visit Mary Ann, a friend from work, at the university's research station up at Jackson Lake. I hadn't ever been to NW Wyoming, but I've long heard it's gorgeous. I arrived on Thursday a couple of hours before the weekly barbecue and seminar. The speaker, Bob Smith, and his topic, the Yellowstone Caldera, are insanely popular, so tons of people showed up. It was fun to pitch in and help keep the food replenished and direct people to bathrooms and recycling bins. If there's one thing I know, it's hostessing.

The talk was really interesting, and I learned some cocktail party-worthy information about Yellowstone and the Tetons. After the guests were gone and everything was cleaned up, my hosts, Bob and his wife, and assorted friends gathered on the dock for wine. Some of the grad students and kids who work at the station came down soon after. The sunset was gorgeous. I couldn't stop taking pictures because the sky kept changing and getting prettier and prettier. Unreal. Sitting there at the water's edge made me homesick and happy at the same time.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

On Friday, I went to Yellowstone with Mary Ann. It was pretty, and we saw lots of animals. Because it's summer, and it was the weekend following July 4, it was pretty crowded. When we were at Artists' Point, which is so amazingly beautiful, I noticed a woman talking on her cell phone and bitching about something. How can you go to Yellowstone and ignore the view in favor of your phone? The crush of people was annoying, but I had a really fun time chatting with Mary Ann and looking at everything. She took me to her favorite sights, which was really cool. I was surprised how much I liked the geysers and mineral pools, and by how many there were just at the couple of places we stopped.

View of Grand Teton from our raft on the Snake

On Saturday, Mary Ann and Hank took me on a rafting trip down the Snake River. It was a scenic stretch and it was fun to see animals and have Hank talk about them. We stopped on a bank for lunch and I waded around a bit. The only thing that kind of sucked is that in addition to adding to my bug bite collection, I was dumb and only reapplied sunscreen to my (already burned) upper half, so my lower legs and feet got toasted. As somebody who grew up on the water and rowed in high school, I should know better. I think I burned a different part of myself every day for the past two weeks. Still, I really had fun going out on the water. Hank showed me how to row the raft, too, which is completely opposite everything I'm used to from crew. I just had to get used to going against my instincts and just think of it as rowing backward.

After brunch and some window shopping in Jackson with Mary Ann, I left for home on Sunday afternoon. The drive home was just as gorgeous as the drive up there, even though it got stormy. In fact, I was kind of glad for the drop in temperature. If you're really interested, you can see the whole set of pictures from my trip. No road photos this time; holiday traffic and mountain passes kept me from recklessly driving while snapping.

Fantastic weekend

More on this later.

Drive

I wish I had a steaming cup of coffee as big as my head I would smell it savor it before sipping from the warm china rim white saucer to catch the drips and the melted chocolate stick they give me but I never eat even though it’s dark not too chalky like the Kinderegg German toy surprise waiting for me in the mailbox from a friend in Toronto for American children aren’t smart enough not to choke on the bubble-gum machine prize hidden inside so I must get my fix from our northern neighbor who spells things with extra letters and says grade 8 instead of 8th grade seeming so exotic and so familiar all at once with her funny handle and nobody sees the face of the other anymore but I talk across the wire across the continent to an ear that only hears letters and punctuation marks as I type but write on a piece of real paper with a stamped envelope giving evidence that I really lived by a packet of saved letters tied up with green ribbon on his shelf somewhere east of Broadway in a basement apartment I will never visit again at least not in the daylight but maybe after an evening of shared pleasantries over another giant cup of coffee we’ll come to an unspoken agreement that I should come back if only to collect my Burroughs and Cohen so long ago borrowed so that our separation will be final with no lingering reminders of me to tempt him to call and expect to meet me at a diner in the middle of the nowhere night only to find that my line is busy I am talking to somebody else who meets my words with more words not silence and knots of charged particles and atonal sounds and riots of similes no it is more civilized now I am years older and I have almost forgotten how to drive fast with no headlights because I am wishing for my big cup of coffee to drink all by myself.

weekend

I jam-packed my weekend, and it was fun. Maybe I should do more of that. Two things on my agenda were firsts for me since moving here. On Saturday, a friend took me on a hike. It was nice to get outside and get a little exercise. I don't spend enough time appreciating how pretty it really is here. Instead of focusing on what I miss about home, I could be taking advantage of what I have here.

The second new thing was having people over to my place. A few friends and family have come to stay with me, but until Saturday, only one person I met here has been over. The people I socialize with all live right in town, so it's always been easier to just hang out at their places. It's only an extra five or ten minutes to get out here, though.

As spontaneous as I'd like to believe I am, it's way too easy to get stuck in a routine. When that routine is me staying in my house all weekend, maybe that's not so healthy. After this weekend, I almost feel like myself again--the self I thought I left behind on the coast.

I love a rainy night

The storm I've been waiting for finally broke. I couldn't resist going out in the rain to feel it and smell it. Everything feels so clean and so good. Now that the thunder and lightning have come, I just want to get in the car and go somewhere pretty to watch. I love the sound of rain beating down on the car and the way the air feels heavy and soft. I like walking barefoot in wet grass. I love the way my hair gets curly again. I've missed the feeling of damp t-shirts and wet hems of jeans. I hope it doesn't stop before I leave work.

Fifteen years

I still have a few boxes around from my move last year and today I went through a couple of them. Why do I keep this stuff? I have a huge box of nothing but old notebooks and day planners from college. It appears that I once took very neat notes in tiny, tiny printing on chemistry and biology, complete with meticulous diagrams.

Also included in one of the boxes were the old journals I was thinking about a while ago. I've always been a list maker, though I tend to not be a list completer. One of the more interesting ones I found was an inventory of the shows I saw the summer of 1992 and may be incomplete. It's definitely not chronological. Here it is:

1. Lollapalooza: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam, Lush (Kitsap County Fairground, July 22)
   
2. Endfest: Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, L-7, Sara Maclachlan, Charlatans UK, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Mudhoney, the Posies (Kitsap County Fairground, August 8)
   
3. the Posies with Flop and Sky Cries Mary (Moore Theatre, June 26)
   
4. Nirvana with Helmet (Seattle Center Coliseum, August 23)
   
5. Morrissey with Gallon Drunk (Paramount Theatre)
   
6. the Posies with Flop and Gnome (Moore Theatre)
   
7. Drop in the Park: Pearl Jam with Cypress Hill and Seaweed (Magnuson Park, September 20)
   
8. Sun 60 (OK Hotel)
9. Hammerbox
10. Treepeople
11. Bumbershoot: They Might Be Giants, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Queen Latifah, many more (Seattle Center, Labor Day Weekend)
    
12. Jr. Cadillac
13. Violent Femmes (Paramount Theatre, April 8)
    
14. Popllama Picnic: the Posies, the Fastbacks, Stumpy Joe, the Squirrels, the Picketts, Conrad Uno (Volunteer Park)
    
15. the Cure with the Cranes (Seattle Center Coliseum, July 1)

Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish when you work part-time at an ice cream store and live at home? It was fun, but I wouldn't really want to be 18 again.

How I roll

Oh, hey, dirty red Pumas. I forgot I had you. The red shoes are just busting right out of my closet lately.

This week has flown by in a big, messy blur. How about some highlights and lowlights? Okay. (Aside: Dudes, I just had to add "okay" to my spell check dictionary. WTF? Are we not spelling things out in the age of lolspeak and l33tspeak?) Anyway, I'll let you decide for yourselves which of these are the highs and which are the lows.

I saw a movie in an actual theater. It was pretty good. I'm still mulling over how I feel about it.

Two days ago, I was walking to my car after work and in a v. good mood. I was wearing a dress and heels, and of course I was texting while rooting around in my bag for a lip gloss with the other hand. Not surprisingly, I caught my heel in a crack in the sidewalk and fell completely down. Now I have a scraped up knee and assorted bruises. Classic Kaijsa.

I made a mix CD this morning. It's pretty fabulous, in my expert opinion.

One workshop I led went really well, and I totally sucked in another.

I drank vast quantities of coffee this morning and could barely write legibly due to the shakes.

I've talked to/emailed with/texted with SJ several times this week, which is fabulous. I'm so happy we're in touch as much as we were when we were both in Sea-town.

A student totally busted me dancing in my office to "Standing in the Way of Control." I defy you to listen to the Gossip without doing same. Viva la PNW disco-punk!

Yesterday morning, some teenagers in a hydraulics-enhanced Chevelle hollered at me in my neighborhood, "hey mama, want a ride?" And while catcalling normally makes me cross, they were so friendly about it AND they were bouncing the car at the same time that it cracked me up. And it was a pretty rad car.

I have determined that the climate here is aging me. In defense, my water consumption is up to an all-time high. I've resorted to tap water at work. That's how serious I am.

blather

One of my more obnoxious qualities is my tendency to run off at the mouth, especially when I'm a little nervous. My brain goes into overdrive, I can't keep to a single conversational thread, and I tend to interrupt the other person with stupid asides. It's embarrassing, especially in retrospect. I'd like to believe I'm a relatively intelligent and mannerly person, but you wouldn't think so if you've had a conversation with me lately.

I have a problem

Why are red shoes so irresistible? I'm powerless to resist them. The picture on the far right is today's outfit. Those Biviels were on sale and I had to have them. There are at least two more pairs of red shoes in my closet that aren't represented above, but no sling-backs with a round toe. So you can see why I needed these.

more stuff I want to do and see

It's another pretty day and I wish I were sitting outside, drinking a margarita. Instead, I got a cherry limeade from Sonic and drank it at my desk.

May I have a sip of your tasty beverage?

Summer also makes me want to go to a baseball game. I wish the Rockies were in the same league as the Mariners so I could see them play here. They're not playing over Labor Day weekend, but the Aquasocks have a homestand against Vancouver. I didn't really think about baseball when I gave up on television.

You know what else summer brings? Lots of awesome shows. I haven't been getting to things in Denver because everything falls on weeknights and/or I have no available partners-in-crime. Anybody want to go to Silversun Pickups on July 30 or this show on July 31? Or the crazy delicious combination of Band of Horses and Modest Mouse on August 1? Also, how crazy is this lineup: Ryan Adams, Devotchka, Jessie Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Lucinda Williams, and Old 97's? Can we also talk about music festivals? Capitol Hill Block Party is probably out because I can't justify flying back to Seattle twice in one summer. I'm currently madly budgeting for Bumbershoot and Monolith, and now I find out about another awesome show! September is going to be bananas.

Summer songs

Does the weather affect your choice in music? I know I complain about the weather around here and moan about the lack of rain, but the sunshine really is pretty. A bonus is being able to bust out all my summer dresses and skirts. When it's lovely and summery, it seems I always reach for power pop. I was listening to Matthew Sweet yesterday and it occurred to me that his music, especially on Girlfriend always reminds me of Echo and the Bunnymen's Evergreen. You might think I'm crazy. It's the guitars.

Compare the title tracks of each for yourself:

Girlfriend (Matthew Sweet)
Evergreen (Echo and the Bunnymen)

kill your television

Ever since I quit the cable entirely, I've been turning over my Netflix much faster. I thought about upping my plan so I'd never be without something. Then today, I discovered that my membership comes with an allottment of streaming video each month. Truth to tell, I don't really like watching on the computer. It makes me antsy, although I did enjoy being able to follow Veronica Mars to the end on the network website. So I tried the "watch now" feature, and tried out a couple of episodes of Coupling, which was kind of disappointing. I expected it to be funnier and not so...juvenile about sex. Whatever. The movies/shows I've watched this month have been mostly good: Vanity Fair, The History Boys, The Bourne Identity, Weeds (season 1), and Bright Young Things.

I thought I might spend some time outside now that the weather is so nice. The mosquitos have been terrorizing me, though. After a few hours drinking wine in a friend's backyard on two occasions this week, I have two dozen or so bites. Those suckers got me through my clothes and a fog of DEET. Maybe I'm tasty or something.

Another thing that keeps me from being outdoorsier is that I'm generally shod in impractical footware. So, no spur of the moment hikes or even long walks are really in the cards for me. It's not that I don't have any sensible shoes. It's just that they're hard to dress around because I don't do sporty well, even though I was once on actual sports teams and the whole nine yards. It seems so weird now. When contemplating a walk this afternoon, I looked at some walking shoes in my closet and grimaced, reaching instead for some teva flip-flops. I guess I'm going for incremental change. But my new silver wedge sandals are much, much cuter.

Travelin'

When I made my traveled states map back in October '05, it looked like this:



create your own visited states map

One of my previously unvisited states is WY, where I live now. Just living here brings me to CO often. I also took a road trip through MT and ID and on a seperate trip, went to UT. A conference took me to MD. Here's where I currently stand:



create your own visited states map

It looks like Nevada will remain a giant hole in the west for a while, unless I go to LOEX of the West next spring.

I'm planning a trip to New Mexico next month, so I probably should have waited on this. Guess I get to inflict this on you again, especially after Midwinter in PA and possibly a drive to NE this summer for some dorky crafy shopping.

Edit: it really annoys me that the east coast doesn't show up. Although, it is kind of funny that my blog seems to understand that west is best.

Almost summer

Sunset view from my front yard tonight, 9:19 p.m. MST

On her way to other western places, my friend M. and her dad J. drove through Laramie and stayed with me for a night. In the 15 months I've been here, I've been lucky to have my parents and my two best friends come to visit, and the weather was beautiful each time. Both my mom and sister-in-law helped me move during the winter, so they experienced the snow and cold. If they hadn't, I bet my loved ones would have already stopped listening to me or believing me when I complain about the weather here.

Anyway, it was fun to have guests over and especially fun to have these particular guests. They made it from Seattle to Laramie in 28 hours, which included a couple of hours in Yellowstone and the Tetons. That's pretty much awesome. I took them downtown for dinner then back home where J. crashed and M. and I had cocktails and caught up. In the morning, there was more gabbing and coffee and breakfast out, followed by a trip to my office and a bit of campus and a little driving around town. Finally, we picked up more coffee and my two guests departed for the next leg of their journey. My one regret is that I didn't take more pictures while they were here.

After they left, I realized how nice it was to actually talk to other human beings on the weekends. I'm so social at work that I tend to kind of retreat into my own personal cocoon when I'm off. In the city I had more motivation to go do and see stuff on the weekend, but I don't know what to do here. Perhaps now that summer is approaching, I'll actually leave the house and socialize. We'll see.

The irises live to die another day

Speaking of pictures and weather, I finally remembered to snap the flowers of the resurrection. This spring, I was surprised with the arrival of tulips, daffodils, and irises in my yard. I don't remember them last year, so either they were dormant, or elves planted bulbs last fall when I wasn't looking. Anything's possible, as my yard does magically mow itself on the weekends. Okay, I know my landlord mows it, but I've only actually seen him do it once. Anyway, these poor spring flowers just emerged a couple of weeks ago and then were brutally snowed and hailed upon. In true frontier spirit, they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, though. I kept forgetting to take pictures and finally ended up going out there in the semi-dark this evening. You'll just have to imagine the daffodils and tulips because I wasn't going to traipse about the yard in my pyjamas for too long.

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.

hateration, holleration

Have you all been following Nancy Pelosi's doings as the next Speaker? I have, but that's not what I want to talk about right now. During my regular morning NYT browsing session, I came across this article* about Pelosi not selecting Alcee L. Hastings for the new chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The part that caught my attention was this quote from Hastings's statement:

“Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet,” he said.

For some reason, I love it when politicians drop slang like this.

*You might have to log-in to read it.

My life in beta

I just switched my blogs over to Blogger Beta. I'm already regretting not waiting to switch until I absolutely had to because now I can't see any of my comments. My current plan is to just wait a while and see if things resolve themselves. This is my usual M.O. and sometimes it works.

In other, more fun news, I started using last.fm along with Pandora, via real-ity.com. I'm not sure how much I'll use some of the features, but I'll give it a try.

Buried in RSS

So, when my Bloglines show 6170 unread posts, do I just give up? It's kind of like the 300 flagged for "follow-up" emails I have in my work inbox. How does this happen?

Rocking out and buying books

I don't have any standing appointments on Mondays, so I try to squeeze in as much collection development as I can every week. I spent the better part of this morning ordering the various faculty requests that have piled up in my inbox lately. I forget how fun and relaxing it can be. It's also a good time to listen to music. Today I realized the Smiths make the perfect book-buying soundtrack. I also recommend Wilco, which has the added benefit that I'm less likely to sing along to it.

Back on the CD tip. One especially savvy person sent over search results from MLA, which gave me a chance to test out our new link resolver. It works really well. I especially like that we recently added the option to search the unified catalog to which we belong and it executes the search automagically. I just wish we could do the same from our catalog, like I'm used to from University of Washington catalog to Summit. If only we were a III library--I miss that.

Speaking of my alma mater, I read that my grad program's student newsletter, the Silverfish, is getting a new name. This makes me a little sad because I liked the name and think it's unique and edgier than most. It's been renamed before, but I thought it was cool that the staff went back to the original name in 1996. Actually, I don't know that there wasn't an earlier name, but Silverfish goes back pretty far. R.I.P., Silverfish.

The state of my office/the state of my mind

This is why I can't think clearly:



That's actually after I spent some time cleaning up.

I had nine instruction sessions last week, and my first T&P packet was due Friday. My hot water tank exploded on Tuesday night and my landlady was in Mexico until Sunday. I've been super busy for the past month, with teaching mostly, but last week was the undoing of me. After five days of boiling water for dishwashing and bathing, I'm very glad I'm getting things repaired today. I'm trying to get back to posting, but make no promises that it will be interesting for a while.

Travel is fun II: Home at last

Thirteen highlights:

1. "Shuttle" from Laramie to Cheyenne = some guy who works at the airport driving a minivan rented from Hertz.
2. That guy doesn't know where he's going. He also drives kind of slowly.
   
3. We arrive in Cheyenne minutes before our flight boards. It doesn't matter; the plane is late.
4. I [allegedly] succeed in carrying [alleged] lipbalm in my pocket. Victory and non-chapped lips are [allegedly] mine.
   
5. We arrive in Denver after our next flight begins boarding. The pilot calls our connecting flight.
6. With fast-walking and positive thinking, we make it halfway across the airport and to our gate in 13 minutes.
   
7. Our bags do not make it.
   
8. Our pending upgrade to first class went through, so we sit down in relative comfort just as the doors close.
   
9. I commence drinking wine, eating fruit and cheese, and gossiping with the flight attendant.
10. The towncar Mom thoughtfully booked drives us home.
11. My brother and sister-in-law come over for dinner, bearing the news that they're having a boy. We celebrate, then watch the Big Brother All-Stars live eviction show.
    
12. Blissful sleep in my parents' comfy guest bed, which I share with two large dogs.
13. United delivers our bags at 6:00 am.
    

I made it!

Travel is fun

This vacation hasn't gotten off to a great start. I drove to Denver yesterday morning to pick up my mom at the airport. She was going to drive with me back to Seattle. My car overheated just as I got onto the airport exit. I cranked the heat, rolled down the windows and made it to pick up Mom. We had AAA tow the car from a parking garage at DIA to a repair shop in Aurora, CO. We ended up wasting a travel day while my thermostat was repaired, so we drove back to Laramie in the evening, stayed at my place and booked a flight for morning.

We're at the Laramie airport now, and just found out that out flight's been cancelled, so we're getting shuttled to Cheyenne. I don't know if we'll make our connection in Denver, but we'll try. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Where I'm at

I've been on a blogging hiatus of sorts lately. It's more by circumstance than design. We've been gearing up for the new semester and I've been trying to get things ready before I leave on vacation. Several things in particular have been occupying my attention, including the rollout of a project I've been working on: the library's fancy new website. We still have a few things to work out, but it's pretty nice. The other big thing is the new responsibility I recently inherited. For this year, I'll be coordinating the library outreach instruction, and I have a lot to figure out in a short amount of time. That goes double because I'm still figuring out how to do my primary job.

Classes start in the morning, and I'm pretty excited to see all the students come to campus. Summer's been great, but fall has always been my favorite time of year. Of course, it's not quite fall yet, and I'm not used to the semester system. Personally, I think it's cruel to make kids start school before labor day weekend, but then, I'm not in charge. In any case, I'm only going to be at work for a couple of days before heading back to Seattle to get my Bumbershoot on; I start driving on Wednesday and should roll into town late Thursday night. It might be an awkward time for a vacation, but I don't anticipate BIs to start heating up until I'm back. So, I'll have four action-packed days at home before driving back here in my new car. It will be nice to actually get to use the vehicle I've been making payments on for the past few months. Plus, having a working radio will make the 1300 mile trip home a bit more fun.

If you're one of my hometown people, I can't wait to see you!

Dance til you can't dance til you can't dance no more

Bad cameraphone picture of Ghostland Observatory at the Hi-Dive

I haven't left town much since I got here. Before moving, I assumed I'd be going down to Boulder or Denver for shopping and music on the weekends. This has not come to pass. It's a combination of the price of gas, my nagging residual city-guilt about single-car driving everywhere, and sheer laziness. The radio also went out on my car, so that makes long drives pretty unappealing. So I've pretty much been rambling around town all summer.

One of my colleagues here is full of crazy and wonderful ideas. She's always instigating last-minute karaoke or something equally fun. So when she organized the Ghostland Observatory Caravan, there was no way I was going to miss out. Basically, she borrowed her mom's minivan, filled it with her friends, and had her husband drive us all down to Denver for the GLO show last night. I even broke out and danced. We got home at about 3:00 this morning, but I seem to be plugging along quite well at work today. We're already forming a plan for Silversun Pickups in October.

Meebo me

I just added the new Meebo Me widget to my sidebar after seeing Kris's post about it. Now you can IM me right from the blog, if you're so inclined. I just have to remember to log in! I used to be really good about logging into my various IM clients, but have been forgetting lately. Maybe this new toy will be a reminder.