Allergies and Mapquest August 27, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: Allergies, libraries, Maps
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As far back as I can remember, I have had to contend with allergies. I don’t need to go outside to know when the weather is changing. I know fall is upon us when my nose gets stuffy, my eyes get watery, and the inside of my ears get itchy. In the fourth grade my parents took me to the doctor to get tested to see what I am allergic to. The doctor had about ten tiny needles held in a rectangle and he pressed about five or six of these rectangles agains my arm. The needles each had different common things people are allergict to, like mold or ragweed. He watched to see if there was any reaction, and marked up my arm with a pen. Not suprising I had red bumps all up and down my arm. Ragweed? yes. Dust? yes. Mold? yes. Cats? yes. A million other things? yes. Luckily I don’t have any food or medicine allergies. I refused to take a bath that night so I could show my classmates my arm the next day.
After that I had to get allergy shots at the clinic, first twice a week, then once a week, and then every other week. I actually quite enjoyed these trips. My dad would usually take me. The clinic had a Ms. Pacman I would play until they called my name. I do not have a needle phobia, and it would take the nurse about 10 seconds to do. They always gave me a sucker, but they were sugar-free and disgusting, so I would give it to my dad.
I have tried just about every allergy medicine out there- shots, pills, nose drops, eye drops, inhalers, liquid medicines. You know what has worked the best for me?- the generic claritin. But really, I am darn sick of dealing with allergies. Don’t some people just naturally stop getting allergies as they get older? I can live without my nose telling me it is almost fall.
I think I must Mapquest or Google Maps or yahoo Maps (which ever one I feel like using at the moment) directions at least once a day for patrons. How did people get to their destinations before Mapquest? I love the avoid tollways and highways feature. I have one regular lady that comes in and has me print out directions for her. She is always so thankful and amazed. I told her all I am doing is typing in the directions, but everytime she acts like I have done some magical feat. She makes me smile.
Weird Stories August 14, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: books
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H.P. Lovecraft has for many years been at the back of my mind as an author I need to try. I finally bought, The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, and started it a couple days ago. Lovecraft has a very interesting writing style. He has very little dialog (exception would include the short story, The Picture in the House, though most of that is one-sided). Some of the short stories include a narrator relaying a story of what has happened to himself or another person. ”I shall never forget that hideous summer sixteen years ago, when like a noxious afrite from the halls of Eblis typhoid stalked leeringly through Arkham” (p. 55) starts part II of the short story, Herbert West — Reanimator. The stories that do not have a narrator still feel like someone is telling me the story instead of me reading the story. Lovecraft also repeats a lot and uses words like hideous, gruesome, and perverse excessively. I think this might annoy some readers, but I rather like it.
I am very much enjoying myself reading these stories. I already sleep with my eyes open and turn pictures on my wall into giant spiders. Why not add dark disturbing dreams to that? I am new to the whole Cthulhu mythology, and I think only one or two stories of the eight I have read so far have eluded to this god. One of the notes in the back of the book explains the pronounciation of the word Cthulhu, which I was pronouncing very differently in my head. Apparently humans can only attempt to pronounce this word correctly. The closest humans can get is Khlul-hloo, with the first h silent, and the first syllable said “guttarally”. I need practice.
A Book Review and a Baby July 28, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: baby, books
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A book review:
I just finished the book, Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S. Wells. Wells does not think the Dark Ages were dark at all. He goes through archaeology evidence to prove that this time period thrived after Rome fell. Archaeology that proves that people were eating well, living in populated cities (both new and old), and making art. He goes into much detail about London. London thrived during Roman’s height. After Rome fell, much of the stone buildings were dismantled and used for other things. Instead of taking this as an abandonment of London, as many used to believe, Wells looks at archaeology evidence that the people during the time period were using different materials to build their homes. I think what Wells is really trying to prove is that just because government, buildings, religion, art, and education were no longer Roman, does not make this time period worse off, just different.
I like this quote in the last chapter:
For the auxiliary soldier serving on the Rhine frontier at the end of the Roman period, for farmers in villages in central France, and for elites at northern centers such as Gudme, in Denmark, and Helgo, in Sweden, there was no abrupt fall of the imperial power. The changes that were taking place from the fifth to the eighth century were gradual; they would not have been perceived as abrupt or transformational to anyone living at the time. It is the way we think about chagne in the past, and the way we sometimes place too much faith in texts concerning warfare and mass movements of people, that can lead us astray. (p. 200)
And a baby:
My first nephew, Ethan James. He was born Saturday at 3:30am and weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces. He is a bit early, but is doing very well, and so is his mother.
I look Catholic, apparently July 17, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: Catholic, libraries
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According to a patron I look Catholic. She talked to me for about a half hour at the Reference Desk. She told me all about her and her best friend during WWII when they were army nurses. She told me about the book her niece’s son wrote that she couldn’t finish because it had too many four letter words in it. Then she wanted me to find that book for her again so she could show her best friend, because they are thinking about writing a book about their experiences during WWII. All she could tell me was that the book’s author’s first name is Jaush (that’s how she spelled it) and it had the word “end” in it. A bit of searching came up with the right title, and of course the author’s first name was Joshua.
My favorite part of that whole encounter was her reaction to me finding the book. She shook my hand, and then sang the first two verses of “You Are My Sunshine” to me. First time a patron has ever sang a thanks to me.
Afterwards she asked, “You are Catholic, right?” I responded, no. She said, “Oh! Well you look Catholic”, and went on to show me a picture of her as a young women with her family and the Pope. It is her favorite picture. She also showed me her favorite picture (drawn obviously) of the “Blessed Mother”, as she called her.
I love meeting interesting people.
Your most important card is your library card. July 10, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: computers, library cards
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Why are you suprised that library cards are free? If you live here in the village you are entitled to a library card. It is a wonderful thing, yes?
And no you can not stand at the express internet station for an hour even if you were only watching music videos from your mp3/phone/what ever the hell that was attached to our computer, and not actually on the internet. 15 minutes is your max time period.
Fantastic Fiction, yo! June 26, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: books, libraries, websites
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For the life of me I can not remember how I found this website. I use it a lot, for myself and for patron questions at the library. It is called Fantastic Fiction. Go check it out. You can search by author or title, and includes usually a little bio of the author, a list of forth coming publications, and a list of all their works. My favorite part is that the series are separted and listed in order. I don’t know how many times I have been asked what the next book in a series is. This website is great for that question.
I have to admit it is a pretty ugly site. Don’t let that scare you away, though.
SAM June 25, 2008
Posted by nitagi in Uncategorized.Tags: computers, libraries, teenagers
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I am almost a month complete at my new job. I really like it here. My co-workers are great and I am learning a lot. The patrons have been pretty great too. With any public job there has been a couple upset or mean people. And of course annoying or at least trying to be annoying.
The teenagers must be getting bored around here. I had one come up to the desk last week while his two buddies were hiding in the non-fiction shelves. He asked, very very loudly, if we had the book titled “Penis”. Just about every head in the adult section turned to watch. I stared him down for a moment and asked if he knew who the author was. The teenager thought about it for a few seconds and said, “Martin Gay”. I asked him if he was sure that was the author’s name. “It’s a real book, I swear!” he said. While I typed the author’s name in the catalog he stood there trying very hard not to start laughing, his lips slipping into a smile a few times.
“Well,” I told him ”there does happen to be an author out there named Martin Gay. But he wrote books on the different wars, not on the title you asked.”
I don’t know if he expected me to freak out or chew him out, and the fact that Martin Gay actually existed threw him off, because all he did was clear his throat, say thank you and walk back to his friends. I think I was a disappointment to him and his friends. They left pretty quickly after that.
What I had really started this blog post for was to talk about SAM. SAM is the software the library uses to manage the internet computers. At my last job, they used PC Reservation, which I like so much more than SAM. PC Reservation does all of the same things as SAM, but it is so much simpler to use. I think the most annoying thing about SAM is the pin. Patrons have to make up a pin and use it each time they log on. They are always forgetting what it is. And sometimes SAM doesn’t accept a pin even though it is the patrons first time using it. I have to go in and delete the pin that is not even there, and then it works. It is just plain annoying.
