Daily Heather for Thursday, May 15

My spring class is over, and while I am still continuing my internship through summer, my next class doesn't start for another week. It's not much, but I am really enjoying the relaxing solitude during the hours I would normally be studying.

Happy Mother's Day... to me?

Daily Heather for Tuesday, May 6

My final paper for the spring semester is due tomorrow. I'm sitting here nominating my friends on Facebook for superlatives. Maybe I can make somebody smile. :-)

Daily Heather for April 28, 2008

I tried to put on earrings today, but the left one just wouldn't go through. It isn't often at all that I wear them, but I've got a cute little skirt on and a jewelry set that matches perfectly, so I thought what the heck. Now I have just the necklace on, and I'm thinking I may never wear earrings again. Nah, I'm sure if I had someone to help me put it on, it would go through. Then I could just wear posts for a little while to make sure the hole stays open. I usually don't have trouble, even after 6 months or more, because my ears were pierced when I was 3 years old. I'm too much of a wimp now to have it done again.

The cute skirt is part of my new skirt wardrobe. My pants are all too big, and I've bought new ones in several sizes as I keep losing weight, so I figured this time I'd just buy skirts so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Why am I losing weight? I don't know. My co-workers want my secret, so I tell them to start school and an internship and get all stressed out. Just kidding. I haven't blogged much lately because I've been busy with school, but now I am working on the final project, so it's a perfect time to blog! That's just the way I roll.

Ladies, you think you want a man?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I saw this on a funny blog I came across called Dating Dames. I actually posted it on my myspace preferred list a while back, and I was scrolling through my posts real quick when I came across this cartoon.

Career goal update

I decided to browse around the State Library the other day. One of the books I opened had short biographies, and I happened to turn to someone with the job title of Metadata Librarian at Amazon.com. I don't know that they even still have a Metadata Librarian or will be hiring for one anytime in the next few years. I do know that they are located in Seattle, though, and I don't want to live there because Misty would hate all the rain.

Now my little wheels are turning. Although Amazon rocks, it isn't the only eCommerce company out there. Maybe a different one will need an entry-level Metadata Librarian. That sounds like great fun! Almost as fun as the database de-duplication I will be starting to do soon at my internship.

Obliviousness

In the restroom of the building where I do my internship, the janitors use stickers on the toilet paper. The stickers instruct people not to start using the new roll until the old roll is depleted. Perhaps most people would not think about this, but I think it is a brilliant idea. Why? Beside the fact that it actually IS a good idea, it is one I would never have thought of myself. It never occurred to me that janitors face this problem of partially empty rolls each night. Now my entire outlook has changed; I always take from the smaller roll no matter where I am.

Relating this to the world outside of the restroom, this one incident gives me a better perspective on the way people act. One of my personal faults is thinking that other people are selfish and/or careless. A large portion of acts that I think are selfish, though, are things like the toilet paper that just haven't occurred to people.

Since I'm terrible at thinking of examples, I searched for some. I found a blog entry (on Fox Sports of all places) that demonstrates precisely what I mean. The author, fatmaw1, explains why mountain climbing is selfish. I'm pretty sure (hopefully) most mountain climbers are not trying to be selfish. They either have delusions of invincibility and/or have never thought of their hobby in that way. They just want to overcome their fears and have bragging rights or whatever.

The Orange County Library System won a grant

"The American Library Association is pleased to announce that the Orange County Library System (Orlando, Fla.) is the 2008 winner of the H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant. This award is presented annually to a library that demonstrates the greatest need for a staff development program that will further the goals and objectives of the library." Full article from the ALA.

I just had to note the irony here. They won a grant because they are in the most need of staff development. If they would have hired someone like me instead of just ex-prisoners for their paraprofessional positions, maybe they wouldn't have that problem.

Happy Easter

Daily Heather for Thursday, March 20

Been out of commission for a while... flu, cold, bacterial infection. Blah blah blah, I'm finally getting better- yay! The weather outside is beautiful today. I really wish I could open the windows. I know Misty would appreciate it, too.

My tax return enabled me to upgrade my computer, so I'm steppin' up in the world!

In memoriam

I just wanted to take a moment to honor an amazing woman and my favorite deputy, Joy Deleston. She and her two daughters were shot to death last night, and her 17-year-old son has confessed to the murders. At this point no one knows why, but I really hope they find out. I knew her because she worked overtime at my library for a few months. She was such a sweet person- the kind of person you would change your schedule in order to work with. She was a very hard worker and seemed like a great mother: loving but firm. She had a way of making things fun. What a tragic loss.

My listening habits

So I'm reading the MakeUseOf.com blog when I come across something that looks like fun. It's a list of hacks to use with your LastFM account! I decided to go ahead and use LastGraph to render a graph of my music listening habits over the last 77 weeks that I've had the account. The largest areas are when the program actually scrobbled (recorded what music I listened to) from my iPod. That hasn't worked very often, as you can see. I don't know why it stopped working when it was doing fine! If it was working, you could see all my podcast listening, too. The really skinny parts = vacation. Not that it really matters, but it's interesting to take a peek at my graph.

Neighbor want a ride?

I don't know my neighbors. I've never even seen some of them. There is one neighbor on my floor. I don't know her name, but I gave her a jump once and a couple days after that I knocked on her door to let her know she left the light on in her car. I don't know her name, but I think her mother or grandmother lives with her. It's an older woman. A very tall one with a hunched back and only two teeth. Two tiny, crooked teeth. Kind of scary.

Yesterday morning I got into my car (one of the rare times Misty is not with me) to go to my internship. I'm sitting there letting my engine warm up (it was 26 degrees) and getting everything ready to drive off when the previously mentioned old woman starts walking toward my car. She must be walking in that direction and just passing my car, right? Nope, she pulls the handle (luckily I got to the lock in time) and tries to get in the car. I give it a second, hoping she'll realize she's at the wrong car, but no, she wants to talk to me. I roll the window down a crack and she asks if I'm her ride. I say no, I live here. She goes on about needing a ride to her friend's house and asks if I'm her ride again. I say no, I'm sorry, and she says something about me not taking my dog with me. I tell her I really have to go to work and take off.

That scared me. I'm all for helping out neighbors, but there's a huge difference between asking someone if you can get a ride later and getting into a stranger's car.

Heather's Annual PSA

Don't go to work sick!
If you're the boss, don't let your employees go to work sick!
It seems to me like it would be common sense. Having one person out sick is tons better than having a sick person at work and ultimately many people out sick.

I think I got a flu and a cold. The only thing I've wished for the last 4 days is for someone to come to my door with soup and walk my dog.

Even though my Dad actually thinks it's a joke, here is a great short video on coughing and sneezing etiquette.

Daily Heather for Saturday, Feb. 9

Another long day. Misty had a bath. Isn't she adorable?