First Lines

I have started reading The Fountainhead. After Rand's Introduction, I was a little worried that this book was going to be a real chore, but the first line caught me..."Howard Roark laughed." What I like about this line, other than its simplicity, is that someday, I might be asked what that line is from, and I will know it. It has probably already been a Jeopardy question. We are officially reading this title now because Smashler finished War and Peace, 5 days faster than I did, she pointed out. When the International Olympic Committee determines that reading is a sport, I'm sure ALA will field a team. Great Britain will probably sweep the Cozy Mystery events, though. So...The Fountainhead is off and running. If you are joining us in this project, please feel free to begin reading and posting at will. I am already enjoying that I am reading it. I hope to enjoy what I am reading; I think I will.

Teachable Moment

This weekend I went up to Celebration, Disney's master-planned community just outside Orlando for two events. On Friday night the Rotary Club hosted a liquidation sale of merchandise from the Disney warehouse at 70% off! We had read online that the checkout line can last 2+ hours. Having driven after work directly to the sale in the Celebration K-8 Gymnasium, we found ourselves in the "greediest place on Earth" with a tote full of goodies that we probably would not have purchased in the parks. One of the items, however, was a box of leather juggling balls from the France pavilion at Epcot. On my list of 43 things is to teach Smashler to juggle so I picked up several boxes (at 70% off, who could resist?). There was a boy behind me, perhaps an 8th grader, who was interested in the balls, but he said he couldn't juggle. I told him I could teach him. The line was loooong; we had at least an hour to kill. I told him to put the box in his pocket and instructed him how to toss the balls. After a couple of minutes, we moved on to the next step. Our juggling lesson progressed at a quicker pace than our place in line. In a short time, Jordan, was able to add the third ball and was juggling. I juggled along with him. Eventually, his family joined him in line and in an hour we made it to the front of the line. When it was my turn to go to the next available register, Jordan said to me, "It was nice to meet you." What a polite boy. I love teachable moments.

Brought to You By the Letter...

Approximately 15 minutes ago I posted the letter "B" for the Battle of the Bands game and there has been a flurry of activity on Librarian Blvd. We already have 45 bands posted. I am the only one here at the moment. ScheduleMaster just stopped back by to check the board, but her offering was already posted. We have had participation from a first-timer this letter (Beastie Boys, in case you are wondering). In the first 20 minutes of "B" we have more groups than we had in 1.5 weeks of "R." Once again, the range of bands posted, even by individuals, is interesting. Ranging from BeeGees to Ben Folds Five, we have it covered.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is the day that I start pushing 40. Actually, I don't start pushing until 3:47 p.m. when I officially turn 39. I just checked my profile on this blog and saw, in print, my age as 39 for the 1st time. I have seen it on cards for the past couple of days, but the blog profile is the first "official" announcement. I am also wearing my special birthday socks. My mother sent me this pair of socks for my birthday when I was away my freshman year of college (1987) and I have worn them every birthday since. This is their 20th year. They are soooo 80s, aqua and pink, but they are my special birthday socks and unlikely to wear out at one use per year.

Fountainhead Discussion Blogging

Sally's comment raises a very interesting point about the actual plans of the Librarian Boulevard Book Club. This whole group reading project started from my desire to catch up on some reading I should have done years ago. After all, you expect your doctor to be healthier and your personal trainer to be in better shape than you. I don't want my patrons to feel their librarian isn't well read. So reading War and Peace was personal and Smashler jumped on the bandwagon and then she felt she should read All Quiet on the Western Front, so I did too, to help motivate her. Now we have The Fountainhead to read and Sally, at another library location wants to join us. We have the opportunity to try out a book discussion in blog format. Both Sally and I lead book discussions at our respective locations and this will give us the chance to see how an online discussion would work. I think we can all read at our own paces and post comments as we see fit. I doubt there will be any spoilers in this book. Now that we'll do this online, anyone else want to join?

Viewing the Internet at Work

At my job I am online all day wherever I am sitting. We all are. Last year I learned about a Web site that streams live video from a game preserve in South Africa. The camera is on 24 hours a day and pans 360 degrees looking for animals, even at night with night vision. We call it the "Watering Hole" but it is really Africam. We have seen zebras, elephants, monkeys, all sorts of antelopes, giraffes, and even lions. If someone sees something awesome, emails are sent or calls are made from desk to desk. One day someone in the "the back" called the Reference Desk to say, "Elephant at the watering hole." Our on-call librarian, scrambling thinking it was some sort of emergency code she didn't know, looked surprised as the others at the desk simply maximized their Africam windows to gawk at the elephant half a world away. The next best moment occured as a group of librarians stared closely at one computer monitor behind the Reference Desk. One of the librarians, a female no less, finally proclaimed, "look at the rack on that one!" The view, of course, was a herd of gazelles. Someone almost always has the site up or minimized. You never know what you will see. It's basically nerd porn. The Web site, is out of Canada and is pretty nifty. They have 4 different nature cams. We also have been keeping an eye on the Grizzly cam on Grouse Mountain and today I found the Eaglecam up and running. The other cool thing about this Web site is that there is a music feature that plays indie artists from around the world. I found my favorite new artist here. He is a Finnish DJ named Slow. His Web site is really cool with awesome features and his album Pronto has become my favorite album.

Birthday News

Tonight officially kicks off my birthday celebration, albeit a week early. I admit that I have been having a rough time with this one. If you have not checked my profile, I will turn 39 next Saturday. Actually, my turning 39 is completely independent of your actions with respect to my profile. My 30th birthday and my 35th birthday seem like they were just yesterday. The 4 years since 35 have been terrific, just fast. Plus, I don't know if I feel almost 40 or if I know what that should be. I remember when other people, adults I knew, turned 40 and they seemed much more adulty. Perhaps 40 is very different now. There are 3 of us turning 39 this year. ScheduleMaster already tumbled. So far she is doing okay. Maybe by next April I'll be so used to the idea that 40 won't be such a shock. For now it's just really weird.