Part-time Scheduling Win...

Being an underemployed part-time library worker has some benefits, especially for my co-workers.  Anytime one of my them needs to swap a shift, they know that if they ask me, 9 times out of 10, I will say "sure."  I don't mind the scheduling changes, there's rarely any conflicts with my tutoring.

So when my branch manager asked if I could switch Saturdays with her, I told her go for it.  Later on in the week, the Board of Supervisors decided to make Friday, July 5th, a paid holiday which means that I get an extra long weekend, can't argue with that!

Lock, Stock, and Two-handed Weapons at the Library

I took this picture last week, while doing my normal walk-around.  I'm going to have to pull a Dwight Schrute and start hiding random weapons in the library.  Maybe a nice foam shield in the reference section, a Nerf gun behind the info desk, or maybe keep a loaded Supersoaker in my cubicle.

On a related note, if you like documentaries, I would suggest watching 'Darkon' which is about LARP-ing.  I'm not into LARP, but this documentary was well-done and kept my interest.  I had to watch 'Role Models' afterwards because who can say "no" to the king, Ken Jeong.

Kiss the Ring

Mid-Year's Resolution

Last Saturday after work, I went to my friend's house to use her garage and her brother's tools to install a hitch to my car.  The master plan is that with this hitch, I will attach a bike rack, attached to said bike rack will be the mountain bike that has been sitting in my basement for the past 3 years.  I won the bike for free and people thought that I would have sold it as per my usual hustle-mentality.  But I decided to keep it and paid to have it put together by a local bike shop.  I reasoned that it would be good to have a non-gas dependent mode of transportation just in case, you know, the world goes to sh*t.

With the hitch and rack, I no longer have an excuse to NOT take the bike out to the trails.  The installation took 45 minutes longer than usual, because I'm a dummy and rushed through it.  Fortunately, with my friend's help, no one needed medical attention and the only injuries sustained were mosquito bites.  Here's to a summer of being more active outdoors!

Also, how anticlimactic was the season 3 ending for Game of Thrones!??  As I was watching it, I kept looking at the clock and told myself, "They're surely going to show Joffrey's wedding!"  NOPE... They should have saved the Red Wedding for the season finale to really screw with non-readers.

Saturday at work, check. Takashi's Castle, check.

The Rains of Castamere...

Some people seem to be all pissy about last Sunday's Game of Thrones episode.  How do you think all the readers felt reading that chapter line by line??  I'm glad I read the whole series last summer, I know what to expect and it still doesn't ruin the show for me.

It is nice to see how they translate the book to the show.  There are inconsistencies but they are minor enough that they do not ruin the whole experience.  Well, except for the part where Catelyn seems to have actually cared for Jon Snow.  I have come to really hate her character in the book and when the episode showed her talking about trying to like Snow, I had to instant message my friend and double check to see if that ever happened in the books.  It didn't and Catelyn is still a b.

I cannot believe that the last episode of the season is upon us already.  It's going to be an AWESOME episode!

Terra (Terrestrials #1) Book Report.

Oh no, not another dystopian young adult novel you say.  Well, I think it's better than those other dark YA novels.  You know the ones with the monochromatic covers, if there is any color involved, it usually involves a rose or flower of sorts.

Although I am not the best source for YA novels, I have read the The Hunger Games and Divergent series.  And they all seem to be built upon the same premise.

Here's the ingredient list for non-vampire related YA novels:
1 - a post-apocalyptic world
1 - structured caste system
1 - a "typical" teenage female who belongs in the lower rung of society
1 - male character who becomes the love interest
1 - strange set of circumstances which leads said female to become the heroine

There are a lot of structural similarities between these three novels, fortunately, Terra is able to distance itself well enough to keep my interest.  

I did have some questions after finishing the book.  These are not technically spoilers since the Amazon book description includes these details, but whatever, you've been warned.

My first question is, how high in the atmosphere are the skydwellers living?  This leads me to my second question, if they are as high as I assume they are from reading, wouldn't all the scraps the scavengers look for burn up in the atmosphere?

Overall, Terra is a quick and entertaining read.  If you are a fan of The Hunger Games or Divergent, you would definitely appreciate the Gretchen Powell's take on a dystopian world.  Now I am on to my next book: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.  

Not your usual library staff meeting...

Have to make sure his baby is ready for the summer...

In lieu of our boring monthly staff meeting, my branch manager sent out an email saying that we are having a surprise baby shower for my supervisor.  His wife is due any day now, so my work schedule is up in the air since I may need to cover a shift or two.

On another note, my literacy council student passed his citizenship test and is officially an American!  I didn't realize how much I had forgotten about the government and civics until I was helping him prepare for the process.  "Name a power that belongs to the state" --- what now!??

Operation Creepy Carrots

The Abyss...

My supervisor made the wise decision to place a picture book on the ledge of his cubicle.  Needless to say the book fell into the abyss a few days later.  It was a slow night, as usual, so he and I spent the last hour looking for items in the branch to use to retrieve it.

The circ manager saw both of us on his desk with our heads against the wall and asked us "what the hell are you two up to now?"  She told us it was a lost cause because the gap between the wall and cubicle was too narrow and the only way to separate the cubicle wall would be to dismantle the whole row of cubicles, 6 in total.  The circ manager just rolled her eyes and told us that it was impossible to get it back and to just mark it missing --- oh yeah, challenge accepted.  We only had an hour before closing so we called it quits for the night.

After clopening (Clopening; noun: when you are scheduled to close the night and open the next morning), we returned to our mission to free Creepy Carrots from the cubicle crevasse.  We ended up using two yard sticks and "chop-sticking" the book free.  I sent this pic of the successful rescue and she just replied, "So how much cursing and band-aids did it take?"  No band-aids were needed --- thank you very much, a few curse words though...

There's a book in my boot!

Judging an Audio-book by its Cover.

We have a book display, one display in fact, which is in front of the info desk.  It is currently filled with titles that we have multiple copies of.  Last week, I saw the audio-book and physical book covers for The Help and I almost pulled them from the display thinking they were different titles altogether.

This is the regular US edition cover.  Not surprisingly, there is a different cover for the UK version.  As you can see, it is very simplistic, it has a calming affect.  The cover is completely passive and no one would be able to guess the plot based on it.













Now we here is the audio-book cover.  It is such a stark contrast to its tree-based counterpart.  This cover is very aggressive and does offer some hints at the overall plot.  It almost has an "American History X" feel to it.

If someone checks this out looking for a gritty, violent story based solely on the cover, well, they are going to be highly disappointed.  They say not to judge a book by its cover, but it's going to happen, just looking at these two covers, it seems like they are two completely different stories.

This is the first time that I have ever noticed such contrasting covers for the same book, but I will keep my eye out for more.  This kind of trivial stuff interests me, what can I say, I like to live my life one check out period at a time.

Speaking of book displays, patrons LOVE them just as much as librarians do.  Anything you put in a book display will get checked out, ANYTHING.

Library Lost and Found: First World Problems Edition

At other branches the lost and found collection tends to be filled with Razor scooters and skateboards.  At mine, it's lacrosse sticks and golf clubs.  Still waiting on that hundred dollar bookmark though...