mmmm...pizza

So after class tonight, I gave in to an offer of pizza. I haven't been eating it much at all for several months and must have forgotten that the last time we got some, I suffered. And so I suffer again. It's just an upset stomach (which could be partially blamed on the bourbon and vanilla coke, I guess), but I hesitate to lay down in bed for fear of the almighty acid reflux monster.

We also watched Army of Darkness, which has been on my list for a while and sadly did not live up to expectations. I wouldn't say I'm a huge Bruce Campbell fan or anything, but I have seen one of the Evil Dead movies and enjoyed Bubba Ho-Tep quite a bit. I actually went to that with Pete and one of his friends during library school, when I didn't know him all that well and before he became my favorite partner-in-crime's companion. Anyway, my point is that we watched the end of the State of the Union address afterwards, and that was funnier than the movie.

Finally, after a long conversation about research and publishing, etc., I came home to find my first Early Reviewer book in the mailbox, so I'll need to read that and post a review soon. Between that, everything I have checked out from the library; the stacks of unread books in my house; the fifteen or so new books I picked up at Midwinter; the books publishers have started mailing to me for no apparent reason other than maybe they know I'm a librarian (although they come to my house and my librarian stuff comes to work); all the essays and chapters I'm looking at for the composition reader; and the book I just got for a discussion group next month, I think I'm set for reading materials for a while. Also, I have a healthy supply of journal articles stacked up in my office. But hey, I posted on the book blog for the first time this year, although I know I read something else and just can't remember what now. Maybe something on a plane? Hmm.

phone home

It's amazing how important a phone call can be. Talking to a good friend can, if not make the hard stuff go away, at least put it into perspective a little. It's easy to go too long between conversations, to neglect that connection. I need to be better about that.

music for the masses

So, I'm totally a music freak. This is no secret. What I'm not is any sort of scene-y hipster, who keeps up with the latest, most edgy stuff. I don't understand Animal Collective. Even more accessible stuff is sometimes beyond me. For years and years I almost, but didn't quite embrace Modest Mouse. I have no patience for most prog-rock and anything remotely jam-bandy makes me crazy. So I know what I like, and I like pop music. Like, a lot.

LCD Soundsystem made my best-of list and I consider them extremely listenable. So I was amused by this post, defending Sound of Silver from its inclusion on a list of "10 Unlistenable Albums Lying Hipsters Put on Year-End Lists to Appear Cool." These lists are always interesting to me because I usually like one or two of the bands included (see also: Grizzly Bear, The Knife). Whatever. It's funny. And what do I know? After all, I'm currently listening to Sir Mix-a-lot's "My Posse's on Broadway." My last.fm profile is so weird.

What I really need right now is something new to listen to. The new Interpol is in my library requests, so there's that.

cartoon logic

I'm watching Ratatouille, which resulted in the following conversation.

Kaijsa: So, he's an American rat living in Paris?
Rick: No, he just doesn't have a strong accent
Kaijsa: Okay

Sometimes I over think these things.

2008, isn't it great?

I can't believe the new year is already here. It took longer than expected, but I arrived in Laramie yesterday sometime after noon. I got to Denver on Sunday morning, and Rick picked me up at the airport. It was a gorgeous day. We drove up to Fort Collins, with the intention of grabbing lunch, doing a tiny bit of shopping, and getting back on the road. A storm came through and closed the highways, which changed our plans somewhat. After killing time by going to a movie (National Treasure 2, which was "eh"), the road reports were still all bad news and we had to stay the night. It was fun, in a snow-day kind of way. I like hotels.

So we rolled into town almost a day later than planned and it was suddenly New Year's Eve. I didn't have any grand plans and ended up tagging along with Rick to a party where I only knew the hostess. All her guests were nice and we had fun playing games until the big countdown. This is my first New Year in Laramie, so I'm missing the fun party I usually go to on New Year's Day. It feels kind of weird, but I felt like I needed to get back here and have a little time before going back to work.

Now that the holidays are over--well, almost over, since there's a birthday today--I'm hit with the reality of all I need to do. Time is seeming to go by so quickly lately and stuff is piling up, both literally and figuratively. I guess I need a plan. Spring semester should be busy, but less so than fall, which was kind of crazy. I'm trying to take a research methods class, but I didn't really get my act together until right before my vacation, so I'm really hoping the class isn't already full.

I'm thinking that it would be good for me to take a class again and try to be disciplined about keeping up. Also, descriptive research methods could come in pretty handy for assessment projects at work. If I can't get into the class, I'm going to be annoyed, because I will have wasted my $50 registration fee, but I guess I could take something else or wait until next semester.

There are a million other things on my plate right now. Midwinter is coming up amazingly soon. I've never been to Philadelphia, but I don't know if I'll have time to see anything in that short amount of time. We're getting there on Friday and leaving Monday, and my schedule is already too booked. As long as I get to my three committee meetings, I guess the rest is extra. Librarians, let me know if you'll be there, because I'm really hoping I can catch up with my long-distance friends. Internet friends, this means you, too.

Happy New Year!

Bests of 2007

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I did this. It feels weird to be making appointments for 2008 already, but the year is almost over. My list of categories changed a little from last time. Enjoy!

Best Albums
This list looks similar to last year, as Arcade Fire and Band of Horses made both lists. Because they RULE. There was massive amounts of good stuff out this year, but these were on repeat at Rancho Kaijsa.

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Feist, The Reminder
LCD Soundsystem, The Sound of Silver

Best Live Shows
A shorter list than last year, but that's probably because I only hit one day at Bumbershoot and kept missing out on fun shows in Denver because of weather, bad timing, or sheer laziness on my part. Why didn't I go to Monolith again?

Arcade Fire with LCD Soundsystem @ Red Rocks (September 17)
Silversun Pickups with Sea Wolf @ Ogden Theater (July 30)

Best Films
Between the film series, upping the netflix, and actually going to see a few new releases, I watched a bunch of movies this year. Very uncharacteristic, but more fun. These aren't necessesarily the best movies of the year, but rather those that came out in 07 that I most enjoyed.

Once
Knocked Up and its little brother, Superbad
My Best Friend
The Namesake

Best Television
Yeah, I'm going there.

30 Rock (technically came out in 2006, but so worth mentioning)
Gossip Girl (glossy teen soap perfection!)

Best Books
After I couldn't name any noteworthy books from 2006, I started a reading blog. Keeping track of this kind of thing is good for me, I find. This year I read a lot of good stuff, much of it new. I'm only listing books that came out in 2007.

Sherman Alexie, Flight
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Jonathan Franzen, The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History
E. Lockhart, Dramarama
Cathleen Schine, The New Yorkers
Aoibheann Sweeney, Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking
Tia Williams, The It Chicks

There were lots of other "bests" this year, too complicated to mention. It was my first full year in my new state. I visited Seattle six times in 2007, but this was also the year I really came to think of Laramie as my home. And for the first time, I'll be there to ring in the new year. I don't know what new things 2008 will bring, so I'm going into it feeling hopeful. Happy New Year!

snuggly

I don't usually like flannel sheets, but my parents' house is heated entirely by two gas stoves and the bedroom I'm in is the farthest away. So, yay, flannel sheets! I miss my down duvet, though.

Getting here took a little longer than it should have, but the folks at Alaska know how to deal with delays and keep passengers from getting the crazy. Our plane was around 90 minutes late to arrive, but being given hot coffee and cookies immediately upon boarding was a nice distraction.

I read an entire J.A. Jance mystery (I didn't even know she had a new series) while waiting to board and for the first hour of the flight, but slept the remaining two hours. It's weird how I never used to sleep on planes and now I have a hard time staying awake on them. Well, I guess I have a hard time staying awake whenever I'm sitting still, unless I have somebody with me. Forget watching DVDs at home alone. Instant snoozing.

As soon as I got off the plane in Seattle, I felt like I was in a sauna. The lovely humidity made it seem really warm. But that same humidity made me really cold when I got outside. It's like coming out of the shower and standing around all damp. Brr.

I'm super tired and have to get up kind of early to drop off Mom to babysit the nephew. This will give me her car all day. Then I meet up with Mel at U Village and we head down to a friend's place for dinner with girlfriends. The holiday revelry has begun!

Holiday houseguest

Today I heard from Melanie that Ed arrived in Jackson Hole last night. He's on his big, cross-country expedition. I told her to let him know he could stay over with me if he decided to take I-80 to Nebraska and points beyond, and he did! He called when he hit Rawlins and arrived in Laramie at around 9:30 tonight.

We didn't have a lot of time, but I did take him to the Buckhorn Bar--he asked for the "most Laramie" bar--and drove around the campus a little bit. Of course, it's Monday night and it's after finals, so the place was pretty dead, but it was a nice time. It's fun to see the reaction my Seattle friends have when they get charged $3 for a pint of microbrew. They're expecting it to be $7.

It's a rare evening when I'm home, and it's even rarer for me to have company over here. So it's extra fun when I have an actual houseguest. I love that I've now had four Seattle friends come visit me in Wyoming. I love seeing them and catching up, but it's also nice to share the town with them. I think It helps them understand why it's becoming, if not home-home, a home of my own making. There's something to be said for coming to a new place alone and starting a whole new life. Not that it's been easy, but I've really become attached to the people here and the place itself. My mom was shocked over Thanksgiving when I said I was glad to be going home, meaning Laramie. I think it hit her that I'm not just staying here; I really do live here.

So anyway, Ed's taking off early in the morning. I need to actually get my lazy self up so I can make some coffee and breakfast to send him off well, then finish packing for my journey west. It's hard to believe I'll be in Seattle by 9pm PST tomorrow!

thanksgiving part 2

No more family members got sick, though my throat is starting to get sore. I'm trying to believe it's just from lots of talking and I'm taking airborne now and before my flight in the morning in the hopes that it's not snake oil and will prevent a full-blown cold. Dad was still under the weather today, so Mom and I went to my brother's place for belated Thanksgiving. I had lots of time to hold my nephew and be amused by his antics. That child is pretty fun--very happy and social.



I tried to send this photo in a text to Rick, but he said he got a "can't download" message. Oh, well. I get to share it with all of y'all. It looks like I'm holding a two year old, right? He's ten months old. Check out those hands! He'll be just like his dad, who could palm family sized cans of Campbell's soup at one year and ended up growing up to be 6'7".

Earlier in the day, Mom and I went to the mall and did a little shopping. I got a couple of things, but didn't really get too excited about much. Aren't malls weird? They sap my energy like nothing else. We didn't even make it off the ground floor of Nordstrom, so I wasn't tempted by overpriced outfits. Yesterday's brief outing to the Rack yielded half-priced Smartwool socks, which was pretty fabulous. I didn't do Christmas shopping, but did get some ideas and finalized most of my to-do list. All told, I think we spent about three hours shopping during this visit, including stops for groceries. Not bad, if you know anything about me.

Right now I'm plundering my parents' CD collection. They've been reproducing their vinyl collection with CDs for a while now, but there are still a lot of albums to go. I'm taking Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, Jim Croce, Boston, the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, and Simon and Garfunkel. More if I can stay awake long enough. I need to be at the airport around 5:30 in the morning, so I better get to bed soonish.

thanksgiving

My visit home to Seattle hasn't been what I expected. My mom called me before my flight early Thursday morning and let me know my dad took my brother to the emergency room the night before. Turns out he has pneumonia and was really sick, so he and my sister-in-law couldn't host Thanksgiving dinner. My mom and I ended up cooking the whole shebang over here for my parents, my grandma, and me. Then Dad and I took some food over to my brother's house and I got to see my nephew for a few minutes.

I got to meet up with SJ and her family, including Companion's father, for breakfast this morning. That was fun, though the server's stress level made me kind of stressed out, too. Then mom and I went out shopping at just a couple of places and didn't have any trouble parking even though this is crazy shopping day from hell. But we had to cut the fun short to take Dad to see the doctor, because he got really sick today. The doctor sent us straight to the ER because of Dad's high fever, so that makes two family members at the hospital in 48 hours. Not an awesome record. I came home to feed the dogs and wait for Mom to call and let me know when to pick them up again.

There's one day left of my vacation, and I really hope it gets better from here on out.

for future reference

Rethinking reference is nothing new, and I'm unlikely to come up with any startling revelations. All I know is that I'm doing more and more instruction every term and it's my first priority. Balancing my time between direct service (reference and instruction) and my other duties is hard, and naturally I'm trying to figure out where best to expend my time and effort. My whole department, like just about every reference department at academic libraries, is trying to figure out what to do about this.

I work the late reference shift on Wednesday (attention stalkers!), and every week as I sit here answering mostly directional or factual questions, I think we might as well hire students to staff the desk at night and on weekends. But at least once every shift I end up with something more advanced, like teaching somebody how to use the ERIC thesaurus, finding the American Antiquities style guide online, or helping a student come up with alternative keywords for better searches in communications databases. I wonder what impact removing professional librarians from the desk would have on our patrons. I don't know our collection nearly as well as I'd like, but I can walk students right to specialized sources, and I don't think we could expect student workers to learn that level of complexity.

I don't have any answers, and I'm not raising any new questions. We keep adding services, and at some point, we're going to have to let some go. Some subject librarians are doing on-site reference in their departments and others do tons of consultations from faculty referrals. We've added IM reference, and it's being used a little. I'm trying to figure out how to integrate text messaging into this service, but that's just one item on a huge list of plans/ideas. I'm doing some consultations and a lot of instruction that's leading to students dropping by my office for help. I never thought I'd want to give up parts of my job, but if I could spend less time on reference, it might help with balance.

Just thinking out loud here.

I'm in a food mood

crunchy sexy roll

There's a new sushi place in Laramie, and I finally checked it out today at lunch. The lack of sushi in town has been a fairly significant issue for me, so I'm really rooting for this place to last. I ordered four pieces of ebi and a "crunchy sexy roll," all of which was good. The description sounded like the amazing "country rolls" I had at Sushi Afloat several years back, which I've never seen duplicated. It wasn't the same, but it was good. This awesomely named roll has tempura shrimp and crab inside and is topped with spicy sauce and two colors of roe. Fancy and tasty, though I wasn't expecting eight pieces and only made it through five. I also got four pieces of ebi, a longtime favorite nigiri option. The shrimp was sweet and tender, but I would have preferred more wasabi between the shrimp and rice. The presentation was very nice, too. I'm a sucker for that stuff.

another book meme

I ganked this from Doppelganger, as usual. 50 Books is my go-to book/reading blog, after all.

Total number of books I own
Too many. Actually, I have no idea. I've cataloged 353 on LibraryThing, but that's not close to accurate. Some of those are library books I've blogged about, so I don't actually own them. On the other hand, I haven't even gotten to all my bookcases at home, and I seem to keep accumulating books at work because of various discussion groups.

Last book I read
I fell off the book blogging bus when I read a dozen or so M.C. Beaton mysteries in a recent binge. I can't remember which one I read last, but I think it might have been Death of a Celebrity. I'm fixing to start The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie and I need to finish Discussion as a Way of Teaching for two different discussion groups on campus.

Last book I bought
I'm a heavy library user and have kind of stopped buying books. I think the last one I actually purchased was Flight, also by Sherman Alexie, back in the spring. (I've since forced it on several friends, who agree it's awesome.)

Five meaningful books
I guess I can choose to define meaningful any way I wish, but this is still hard. I'm going to go with books that are personally meaningful to me. This kind of feeling is really hard to describe, so I won't try to justify my choices, unless my readers comment and demand it (as if).

1. Garden of Eden, by Earnest Hemingway
2. Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger
3. Polyverse, by Lee Ann Brown
4. Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus, by Aaron Cometbus
5. Desolation Angels, by Jack Kerouac
   

Wow, I even surprised myself a little there.

Great Pumpkin, it's Halloween

jack 'o lantern handiwork

The fall is slipping away so quickly I can hardly keep track of the days, let alone document them. The weather has been amazing, especially compared to last year. We've had snow twice this month, but it hasn't lasted and most days have been warm and mild. This has helped keep me walking, which seems to have improved my mood. Cold weather makes me kind of blue.

On Friday, Rick and I carved pumpkins, which I think turned out well. Mine's an alien ghost--witness the coolness. We also roasted the pumpkin seeds. Rick spiced them with cumin, cinnamon, and ginger, which was interesting (in a good way). I think I ate too many of them, though, because I had a stomach ache later that night. But it was worth it for a fun, mellow evening.

In other holiday-related news, it turns out I'm going back home for Thanksgiving. I stayed in Laramie last year because it seemed like a lot of hassle for a short trip, plus I go home for a couple of weeks over Christmas anyway. But Mom asked me to come and we found a pretty cheap ticket, so I'm going. My sister-in-law and brother are having T-Day dinner at their place, which should be fun. Have I told y'all what an awesome cook my s-i-l is? Truth. A couple of years ago, she made me a birthday dinner that rocked my socks. It was a pork loin with a blackberry reduction, a potato gratin with gruyere, and hericot verts. So you can imagine I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with. Also, it will be nice to see family and hold the nephew. Speaking of, nephew had his 9 month checkup and he's a whopping 25.5 lbs and 31.5" tall. I wonder if he'll be taller than his dad, who's 6'7".

Anyway, holiday plans are coming together, I guess. It's weird to be here, a day away from November, when it seems like I was in the middle of summer a couple of weeks ago. I kind of miss summer.

how Kaijsa keeps busy

I've been scarce around these parts, despite my best intentions. What have I been up to? Well, lots of stuff, most of which would bore you to bits. My friend Miriam and I have been trying to take walks as close to daily as possible, which has been nice and seems to be improving my energy and general attitude toward life. I think we need to ramp it up a little because it's getting too easy, although I bailed early yesterday because my ankle's been bugging me (too much wearing of the high heels at work). Another good side effect is that most of my pants are too big. Unfortunately, my wardrobe is full of things I truly love and don't want to have to spend the money to replace. You take the bad with the good, I guess.

There have been other activities lately. I continue to go to the Sunday film series in town, and a couple of weeks ago saw Once, which I loved. I got the soundtrack from the library and it's wonderful. Some Frames albums are in my request queue. This past week, I saw La Vie En Rose, which was also good, although Edith Piaf's music isn't as much my thing as Glen Hansard's.
There were also various homecoming activities going on. I didn't attend much, but did catch the sing, which I didn't know about until this year even though it's been going on for 72 years. My favorite act had to be the LDS student group doing "Thriller," complete with some of the choreography from the video. The big event for me, though, was the homecoming parade on Saturday. The university libraries float won the grand prize, which is pretty cool. I can't take any credit for this, as I was a non-participant.

So, that's been happening.

Meme time

I've been really bad about posting for the past while. There's been stuff I've wanted to say, but either I didn't feel like saying it, I got too busy to say anything, or I just was feeling crummy. How about a meme to get me back into posting?

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Paperback. Specifically trade paperback because they usually have nice quality paper and are a good size. Also, paperbacks don't weigh down my giant bag too much and there's no dust jacket to mess up or lose.

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
I'm terrible at naming things. I'll never own a bookstore, but I guess I could name it bokhandel, which is bookstore in Swedish. I'm so boring.

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…
I don't have any awesome quotes at hand, and I'm honestly a little too lazy to start rummaging around to find them. I have read some pretty insanely quotable books lately, the latest of which was Which Brings Me to You. I also love the following quote from Why Moms are Weird, by Pamela Ribon. I already quoted it on the book blog, but it bears repeating.

I've been romanced, dumped, caressed, fondled, and destroyed in the confines of my car. It's the shell that protects me when the rest of the world can seem so infinite. When everything in love becomes too chaotic, I can take a man to the smallest place that can contain us, force him to look at me and tell me the truth.

4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be…
I don't like meeting famous people in general, and authors would be a particularly strange bunch. There's really nothing I can think of to say to them, and I suspect I'd have little fun with some of my all-time favorite authors. Like, would Hemingway get drunk and ignore me while hitting on the waitress? And would Emily Dickinson make me eat in the next room? I know some authors who are pretty rad people and fun to have meals with, but if I had to pick somebody I don't know I'd go contemporary and choose Steve Almond. He seems like a cool guy and would have lots of interesting stuff to talk about.

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
This scenario sounds so terrible I can't even contemplate it. Denial is encoded into my DNA. After the presentation portion of my interview for my current position, I was asked to name my favorite novel of all time. I gave a five minute answer about why I can't choose, named my favorite genres, and talked about my commitment to reading all the Pulitzer winners for fiction. The other library folk in the room seemed to understand and enjoy that answer. Nerds find their own, I guess. Similarly, I'm finding it impossible to answer this question. How about the compact OED (with magnifying glass)? That would take some time to finish.

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that… Magically makes all my books fit into one box that I can lift so I don't have to hire people to ship 30+ boxes next time I move.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…
Used bookstores. I'm not very imaginative, I guess. Also, that smell doesn't get me excited.

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be…
So, I suck at this meme. I also tend to like books with really fucked-up characters, and I wouldn't really want to be any of them. I think Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables series was pretty kick-ass, but I don't know if I'd want to live in olden times. I'll go with that answer, though.

9. The most overestimated book of all times is…
Oh, who knows? I haven't read a lot of the canon because of my weird and awesome undergraduate education, so a lot of the biggies are off my radar. In the past decade I've been underwhelmed by critical and popular favorites like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (insufferable).

10. I hate it when a book… Is really awesome and I fall madly in love with it only for it to either fall apart in the end (Middlesex) or be the only thing the author ever writes that's any good (Como Agua Para Chocolate).

I found this book meme at 50 Books. Doppelganger and I have similar meme tagging policies. If you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.

Arcade Fire

We got there early!

On Monday, I went to Red Rocks with ten other music lovers for the Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem concert. I almost couldn't believe I was actually going because I bought the tickets so long ago. The show was really great and despite a storm warning, the weather was perfect. Seriously, it was one of the best live shows I've seen in a long time. Both bands sounded great, but my heart belongs to the Arcade Fire. They were so fun! I can't believe I've never seen them live before.

Actually, what I can't believe is how long it took me to become a fan. Way back when Funeral was new in late 2004, so many people recommended it to me and said it was something I'd love. I think I bought it on one of my CD buying binges at Sonic Boom because it was on sale. It sat unopened and unloved for a few months before I tried it out. It's hard to believe now, but when I finally put it on, I didn't think it was anything special and would only occasionally put it on as background music. What was I thinking?

It wasn't until I was driving my new car from Seattle to Laramie in August 2006 that I finally really listened to the album. As you might know, radio between Eastern Washington and Southeastern Wyoming is pretty scarce, so I relied on the few CDs I'd grabbed at the last minute to get me through two days of driving alone through the west. This is how I burned out on Death Cab's Plans album. Anyway, as I was driving east out of Spokane and the sun was setting, I can remember turning up the volume on the car stereo and really listening to Funeral for the first time and being absolutely blown away. I've been in love with the Arcade Fire ever since and can't believe I wasted two years I could have been listening to them. Neon Bible is amazing, of course, but Funeral is my first love and you don't get over that.

It's hard to describe a concert. I took lots of pictures, but not many turned out well. I have a really hard time holding still enough when not using the flash, so lots of them came out blurry. The best of them are on my flickr. Cass's turned out a lot better, and she put some good ones up on Wyoming Beat.

I only recorded one clip, but it's from one of my favorite songs:

Uber Cool Nerd

Only 9% awkward!

Link via Robot & Vine.

Sort of homesick, sort of not

Tonight I will be missing the Dinosaur Jr./Band of Horses show at Neumos. I'm mostly happy to be back to my regular life, but I read the Seattle papers online and listen to KEXP, which continues to make me wistful and a bit sad to be missing fall in the northwest. The PNW spring means gray whales and the fall means grey, drizzly days that are cool but not cold, perfect for holing up with a coffee and a book. It's the opposite of here, with a long, mild fall and a short winter. The past two chilly mornings have been reminding me that I get to look forward to a short fall and long, drawn-out winter. In preparation, I busted out my cold-weather clothes this weekend and took stock. I'm going to have to start wearing socks here pretty soon, and that makes me sad.