Library Workers - Facts and Figures - Fact Sheet 2009

Library Workers: Facts & Figures - Fact Sheet 2009

Source: AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees
http://www.dpeaflcio.org/programs/factsheets/fs_2009_library_workers.htm

I've just given this a quick look.
So far, it looks pretty depressing.

Real Men Can't Hold a Candle to Jake Ryan

Over on the right side column I had a link to the 2004 Washington Post article, "Real Men Can't Hold a Candle to Jake Ryan", by Hank Stuever.
Every once in awhile I check links to see if they still work. Sadly, this one didn't.
If you go to Stuever's blog, Tonsil, he explains why in his July 17, 2009 post.
I guess I have to agree with him, but I'm glad I saved a hard copy of the article.
It's a keeper.
Love the new site, especially the blog.

The Old iGoogle

For now, this works -
http://www.google.com/ig?hl=all
When it doesn't, I'll be over at Yahoo or Netvibes.

Bibliostat Connect

Lots of good stuff here. New York pals
I think you have to use IE to make it work.
Get stats on public libraries through 2007.
http://connect.informata.com/

Onondaga Free Library's Expansion and Renovation

Watch the expansion and renovation of Onondaga Free Library on their blog.
Looks like they've done a lot already.
http://www.oflibrary.blogspot.com/

Onondaga Free Library's Home page
http://www.oflibrary.org/

Sherman's at Caroga Lake, New York

It's all buttoned up, shuttered up, and quiet.
There are For Sale and No Trespassing signs.
I took this one through a window.

A new photo gallery at PBase:
Sherman's at Caroga Lake, NY

How to Make a Zip file Without Winzip

How to create a .zip file without using Winzip.
I've got Windows XP. Not sure how it works on other OS's.

Open the folder where the files, in this case, photos, are located.
Go to the 'file' menu at the top.
Select 'New'.
Click on 'Compressed (zipped) Folder'.
Name the new folder, then hit Enter.
Drag the files you want zipped into the new folder (.zip file).

How about that!
I use it when loading multiple photos to PBase.

Which reminds me.I tried another photo storage place called SmugMug.
www.smugmug.com
They give you a 14 day free trial - no credit card required. At first I liked it, but when loading photos, I didn't see the option of looking at a folder of files in the thumbnail view. I really, really need those thumbnails.
Maybe I didn't look hard enough. I'll give it another whirl, but for now, I'm sticking with PBase.
It's old. I'm used to it. It's kind of like Vueprint, which I still use - plain, but pretty powerful. I don't know how people manage without it. Maybe they call it Vuepro now. I've been using it since 1995, or 1996. It was a great buy at $35.00 shareware.

Weather War

Have you read it yet?

Baby News

Sweetpea is now crawling in earnest, and he has his first tooth!

Snowfall Race to Date

Totals, so far, for the season:
Albany - 52.6"
Buffalo - 100.0"
Rochester - 103.6"
Syracuse - 149.6"

I Am Waiting -Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I suppose I could copy the entire poem and put it here, but it's easier to just do a link.
I think I discovered this poem, and site it's on, back in the '90's - can that be right?
http://www.jessamyn.com/me/waiting.html

OMG - Another Required Reading Librarian Blog

There are way too many blogs around written by librarians, but this one is just too fabulous.
I found it when I popped over to the Well Dressed Librarian to see if there was anything new.
:-(
Both could use some new posts. Pretty please.
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette
http://libetiquette.blogspot.com/

Must See Photos

Fabulous photos by Greg Lavaty. I just discovered them logging into PBase.
http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/root

Avon Professional Cleansing Scrub

Avon Professional Deep Pore Cleansing Scrub - product number # 069346 $12.00
It's so heavily perfumed I almost gagged.
There are very few 'beads' - it's not really a scrub.
It's very greasy.
Bottom line - it's smelly slop.
Shame on them.

I want the old Clearskin Scrub back.

SU 127 - UConn 117

SU vs. UConn Photos from Syracuse.com
http://photos.syracuse.com/gallery/4456/Syracuse%20vs%20UConn

Changes & Avon's Customer Phone Number

Change is inevitable, but it can be annoying.
I rarely use AOL anymore, but in the last few months, they dumped (sunsetted) AOL Journals - their version of a blog, xdrive, and AOL Photos. They also deleted a bunch of message boards I used to like. I hadn't stored any photos on AOL in ages, but I had a lot of old ones there, so I had to move them over to Photoworks, AOL's choice, which now means I'm a member of that storage place. Another password to remember, and lots of email offers from them.

Google changed it's format of iGoogle. They put the tabs vertically on the left side. Users complained that it used up too much 'real estate', but as far as I know, they haven't changed it back. I'm using a workaround which gives me the old format.

The New York Times had a neat thing where you could save articles to My Saved Files, or something like that. Well, they gave that the sunset, but users could easily move all their saved articles over to Furl. So, now I'm subscribed to Furl. Another password. Since the change, I haven't accessed it. I used to save quite a few articles. When I want to save one now, I use the 'print' option, paste the article into an email, and mail it to myself.

The worst change of all isn't anything online. AVON got rid of the Clearskin Cleansing Scrub!
I can't believe it. I've been using it forever. They've substituted it with a Pro Clearskin Scrub at twice the price. I haven't tried it yet. There's quite a few listings for it on eBay, but it's $$$.
I even called them to complain. The # is 800-445-2866.

Kodak Gallery changed the look and feel of photo album slideshows. I wrote to them telling them how awful they were. They replied that they were sorry. I'd use Walgreen's for everything, but they don't have a few of the editing features I like at Kodak.

I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now.
I knew there were more ...

The RIOT Manhattan webcam on Fifth Ave. at 45th St. is GONE. I really liked it a lot. I am so disappointed. Not even a note saying they were gone, just an empty page.

Wegmans Baked Potato Salad is totally lousy. Yuck.

I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now.

Success

Just in case anyone is wondering ...
I did place baby on his back for sleeping.
He can roll over now.

Not Quite Ready

We had to get a bedroom ready, which meant stripping wallpaper, scraping off years wallpaper paste sludge off the walls, repairing a hole in the wall, painting, ripping out the wall to wall carpet, and cleaning the floor.

Grandma is Ready

All I need are a few binkies, diapers, bottles, and I'm ready to go.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yum

Some Favorite Authors

So I can keep track of them ... not in any particular order. Ok, Silva is my favorite.

Daniel Silva
http://danielsilvabooks.com/content/index.asp
Sarah Dunant
http://www.sarahdunant.co.uk/index.htm
Jeffery Deaver
http://www.jefferydeaver.com/
Nelson DeMille
http://www.nelsondemille.net/content/index.asp
Ken Follett
http://www.ken-follett.com/
Vince Flynn
http://www.vinceflynn.com/
Alex Berenson - The Silent Man, The Faithful Spy, The Ghost War
http://www.alexberenson.com/
Mark Kurlansky
http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=16389
Bertrice Small
http://www.bertricesmall.net/

Favorite Blog I Discovered in 2008

The Well Dressed Librarian
http://welldressedlibrarian.blogspot.com/

So witty. So true. So very classy.
I completely agree with the very first post. All libraries should be like this.
http://welldressedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html

Favorite Photos of 2008

http://www.pbase.com/silverthreads/2008faves&page=1

Books Read - 2008

Here's what I read in 2008. The most recent is listed first.

* Divine Justice - Baldacci
* The Widows of Eastwick - Updike
* Mrs. Astor Regrets - Gordon
* The Gate House - DeMille - ho hum bummer
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Bauby - annually
* Havanas in Camelot - Styron
* The Bourne Sanction - Lustbader
* The Broker - Grisham
* The Soloist - Lopez
* A Romance on Three Legs - Hafner
* The Broken Window - Deaver
* Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet - Hafner
* Moscow Rules - Silva
* Girls Like Us - Weller - iffy
* The Janson Directive - Ludlum 2002
* The Venetian Betrayal - Berry
* Rubicon - Alexander - don't bother
* The Geography of Bliss - Weiner
* Armageddon in Retrospect - Vonnegut
* Exit Ghost - Roth
* Historic New York - Olenick, Reisem
* The Woman Who Wouldn't - Wilder
* Stone Cold - Baldacci
* Boom! - Brokaw (audio)
* Weather War - Posnick, Leokum 2x
* Protect and Defend - Flynn
* Supreme Court, How it Was, How it Is - Rehnquist
* The Scorpio Illusion - Ludlum
* Schulz and Peanuts - Michaelis never was a fan