Amazon Prime Shipping Free for Students for a Year

You library-people like to read, right?  Well, now you can have those beloved hardcovers (as well as every other item that is sold) shipped in 2-business days or less if you purchase them directly from Amazon.

Amazon is again offering one free full year of its Prime Shipping to those with a valid edu email address. It is an excellent service, it's even better when it's free!
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info

If there's one thing all of my coworkers know about me, it's that I like to shop. I don't like to just shop though. I like to think of myself as an educated consumer, who does all of their research in order to make sure that the best price is found. That usually involves looking at cash back sites, coupon codes, rebates, and price matches.  I like to reminince on the days of Bing's 30% eBay cashback deal, I had over$1000 in Bing cashback.  My coworkers are always asking advice on technology and what to buy and where to buy from.  At my first branch, I found the 46" LCD for my supervisor, I helped set up another's cell phone.  I sold two of my coworkers digital cameras which I had intended to eBay hustle but decided they needed it more and I could take the potential loss in profit.  There are always deals to be had and I will always be there looking for them.

Troy and Abed in the Morning: Librarians the Keepers of Knowledge...

After class ends on Thursday evenings, I find myself rushing out of class and speed-walking to my car in order to make it home before 8 pm.  NBC's Thursday night line up is the reason I look forward to each week... seriously.

How can you go wrong with 'The Community' 'Parks and Recreation' 'The Office' and '30 Rock' one after another, a glorious feast of comedy.

Here is Troy and Abed on librarians from an episode of 'The Community' a couple weeks back:

Troy: "Why does being a librarian make her even hotter?"

Abed: "They're keepers of knowledge.  

She holds the answers to all of our questions like will you marry me and why are there still libraries?"

Troy: "I want to be a book. 

She can pick me up flip though my pages, make sure no one drew wieners in me."

BOOKS!

Just Call Me the "Comic Book Librarian"...

It's begun... I have found my "new" (rekindled from my childhood) interest - comic books, primarily Iron Man and The Uncanny X-men series. Maybe I can apply my MLS education into my collection: cataloging, preservation, handling rare/fragile materials.

The USPS/UPS/Fedex people are really going to get a work out since I'm buying bulk straight runs.

Management's Attempt at "Workplace Fun"

Two weeks back, 'The Office' had an episode about creating captions for Pam's drawings.  Well, the following day my branch manager sent out an email saying, "Hey, check out the picture of the baby cheetah on the break room door and write a funny caption!"  Are the two instances related --- highly.  Did the whole branch participate in the library version --- nope.

It was pretty depressing, the branch manager ended up writing her own caption a week later after no one else stepped up.  My coworker was going to write down, "Derp!"  but she never did.  My idea was to go down the LolCats route (if all else fails, resort to cat humor) and write down, "Wutz Cheez?"

In fact, if this stupid picture is still up tomorrow, I am definitely writing down my caption and I am going to make my coworker write down hers as well.

You Always Remember Your First...

A middle aged patron came up to me at the circ desk and asked if he could get a new library card. The card he was holding was well worn and was split right in the middle horizontally. I really have no idea what these patrons do with their cards, but so many of them are also split right in the middle horizontally. Okay, I'll admit I've used mine to shimmy (attempt to) open a door, so mine is also dinged up. These patrons cards do not show any signs of bending, it's like someone cut them with a pair of scissors, but I digress.
So after I scan in a new card for him and hand it over, he bashfully looks at his old card and asks if he can keep it. I reply, "Sure, I don't see why not." He smiles and tells me that it was his first library card as he picks it up and walks away.

One of My Biggest Library Pet Peeves...

I hate/despise/loathe squeaky carts. The worst ones are the ones that croak like an icebreaker floating in the Antarctic. Apparently I am the only one who actually goes around the branch from cart to cart armed with a can of WD-40. Whenever a coworker sees me they'll say something like, "Finally, that cart was getting on my nerves too." Which leaves me wondering how lazy are my coworkers? They would probably order a whole new cart instead of my route.

Library Social Planning Committee...

I am now the one and only unofficial member of the "Unofficial Social Planning Committee" for my branch. 

A few coworkers met up last night to have dinner and watch 'Cedar Rapids.'  In all honesty, we could have skipped the movie and ended up talking all night.  The movie wasn't really all that funny, we turned it into our own personal Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Only one Info person came out, but then again I only told 2 of them about it, my other Info friend was stuck at home with her husband and son.  It has been requested that I set up the next hang out at the local bowling alley.

On another note, two more foreign movies to recommend: 'The Troll Hunter' and 'Tropa de Elite 2.'

'The Troll Hunter' is a low budget Norwegian flick about, well, troll hunting which makes it very unique in that respect.  The mock documentary style isn't new but it works well with this movie.  Besides, modern trolling is only referred to pesky online forum users, this brings back the Grimm-version.  The CGI isn't the greatest, but the Norwegian scenery makes up for it.

'Tropa de Elite 2' is a bad ass Brazilian action movie about police corruption in Rio de Janeiro which makes it completely plausible.  The whole movie reminded me of the Favela map in MW2.  Hopefully it won't matter that I watched the sequel first.

Smells Like Teen Spirit....

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You can tell when the local schools assign group projects because the minivans pull up to the library entrance and the kids swarm the library and take over every table.  Our regular patrons aren't used to this hostile takeover and constantly complain about the increased noise level.  I on the other hand have my own complaints.

My sense of smell is not as sensitive as some of my coworkers, but whenever I walk through the stacks or common areas my nose is assaulted with the smell of Axe body spray and whatever teen girls wear, Bath and Body Works crap I assume.

I just want my sense of smell to come back... ::sigh::

Mean Girls 2: the worst idea since Palin's Alaska...

I'm not going to deny it, 'Mean Girls' is in my top 5 favorite movies. I've watched it over 10 times and I'll probably watch it some more.

So when I was channel surfing and ended up on 'Mean Girls 2,' it was like an hour a half train wreck that I couldn't stand to watch nor turn away. How they took Tina Fey's masterpiece and turned it into a wretched pile of filth is beyond me. The only returning cast member is Tim Meadows and his performance was amateurish compared to the first. Don't know how his agent suckered him into it, all of 'The Ladies Man' money is gone, 'The Ladies Man'!?!?

Thankfully, I've come across two foreign films that I've enjoyed much: 'Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec' and 'Beneath Hill 60.'

'Les Aventures Extraordinaires' could be described as a fantasy, mystery; its based on a series of graphic novels. It doesn't hurt that its French, I'm pretty sure an American adaptation would have ruined it.

'Beneath Hill 60' is based on the true story of an Australian mining outfit during WWI. Its a very unique and intriguing look at trench warfare. It isn't gruesome and action-packed like 'Saving Private Ryan' but it is just as good.

With French and Australian accents, you can't go wrong.

Management Memo of the Week...

This week's management memo has to deal with our County issued ID badges.

Apparently, it is advised that we do not wear them while we aren't at work.  It goes on to state (indirectly) that the public is stupid, and that they might think we are on official county business while shopping.  You don't want to be stopped in the produce aisle and to be asked where the restrooms are, do you?

Once I walk out of the exit at work, the first thing I do is take off my ID badge.  I assume my coworkers do not do the same hence the reason for this e-nag.  Who wants to broadcast where they work anyways?  A workplace "name tag" is a 'Dealbreaker' anyways.  Until I can use my library ID badge to get a discount at the kabob place next door, you won't see me sporting it after my shifts.

Start to a Good Day at Work...

Well, it wasn't the million dollar bookmark I've been waiting for. But I ended up finding a total of 60 cents in the bookdrop, enough for my Diet Pepsi from the vending machine.

This Week's Winner Is...

Patron ...2565. Who would have thought that those books on CD would be so damn expensive given the fact that they rarely play because patrons mistreat them so badly.

I'll Play Along...

I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I am on the side of calling it a Hallmark Holiday.
One of my classmates gave every one a Hershey's Kiss. I seriously felt like I was in grade school and I was supposed to bring in Valentine's Day cards for the whole class ("I Choo, Choo, Choose You").
I wasn't scheduled to work today, but I can imagine the copious amounts of red my coworkers must have worn. Wouldn't be surprised if there were some heart covered sweaters involved... ::shudder::

Every Single Week...

Every single week I am taking a bag or two of clothing not claimed from the Lost and Found. Single gloves, knit caps, and scarves I can understand. How people leave their winter jackets, walk outside, and still don't realize they left it I do not understand. It's near freezing outside and you're walking out of the library wearing a t-shirt. Forget much? Hopefully, by spring time when the weather warms up, I won't find myself constantly bagging all of these clothes. Thankfully there's a clothing donation bin at the end of the parking lot. If these patrons don't feel the need for this clothing, I'm sure those less fortunate would appreciate them.

Micromanaging One Bookdrop at a Time...

First off I apologize for the crappiness of the picture, it was taken using my old Blackberry.

I used to work a holiday book drop here and there back in the day when you would get paid extra, but not anymore.  I worked this particular book drop with my then partner-in-crime.

Before this took place, all of the managers discussed the fact that two of the youngest circ staff would be working that drop. Which is pretty much the equivalent of your parents talking about if it's okay to leave you and your teenage sibling home alone for the weekend.  And then your parents finally decide that you are old enough to handle that responsibility but they ask your next door neighbors to keep an eye on you.  The library equivalent for this was that one of the librarians stopped by to finish her work.  Really??  A public librarian coming in on her paid day off to "finish work."  Yeah, I really believe that.

Reverse age discrimination is what I call it.  Who is to say that if two of the older coworkers worked it, they wouldn't have held cock fights in the middle of the info desk?  What would we have done in an empty library sans managers?  Hold a library rave?  Looking back we should have and I would have made bank on cover charges.

We never were able to get the book stack to reach the ceiling.

T.G.I.F.

There's nothing like ending a horribly micromanaged work week than going out with some coworkers and hitting up a karaoke joint.

Politics, Religion... and now Weather.

This week's recurring theme will be about library mismanagement, I can't help it that they're so incompetent.  The branch manager sent out an email yesterday stating that it is now verboten to speak of weather/weather reports/anything weather related with patrons.  Too bad that's all patrons ever talk about when I interact with them: "Be careful out there it's slippery!" "Make sure you have some sunblock, it's sunny!"

Their reasoning:
1. We are not meteorologists, for crying out loud, meteorologists aren't even meteorologists, they're always wrong and on the off chance they're correct, they become braggadocios (more like braggadouches) about, "We told you so!"  Okay, let me stop this off tangent and refocus my rant.
2. There are other "authorities" who are more accurate than us, again with the meteorologists, sheesh.
3. "We don't want to pass on opinions without documenting sources," seriously, do you want MLA or APA with your weather forecast?
4. We can always "thank customers for sharing what they've heard," but we should not "engage them in dueling reports."  --- Bibliotecher to Patron: I'll see your snow shower and raise you a THUNDERSNOW!

I'm not a dick who can't handle authority, but I'll buck the system if I, usually validated by my coworkers, deem any said rules to be outlandish and impractical.  Screw it, when I go in tonight, I'm talking non-stop weather.  I'm telling all the patrons that there's a 95% chance of Tropic Thunder and I would know because I'm a lead farmer MFer!