Beginner

Seeing a pattern doesn't mean you know how to put it all together. Take baby steps: don't focus on the folks whose skills are far beyond your own. When you're new to something - or you haven't tried it in a while - it can fell impossibly hard to get it right. Every misstep feels like a reason to quit. You envy everyone else who seems to ( Read more... )

This is so true:

Information professionals have been throwing out the phrase Web 2.0 for the past several years; many believe that the next phase of the Internet is the idea of collaborating and sharing with other users ( Read more... )

"If there is one great irony in librarianship, it is this: Librarians can't afford to get the MLS, and libraries can't afford to hire those with it." ~ Library Journal, v.133(2)

I discovered my current book, Play Dead by David Rosenfelt, from a review in Library Journal. It sounded interesting, seemed like a quick read and features a dog. This funny little bit on p. 96 seemed appropriate to include here:

Laurie's already in the bedroom, which is sufficient incentive for me to sprint there. She's lying on the bed, writing ( Read more... )

My Amazon package arrived yesterday but I feel I should finish my current book before delving into new ones. Oddly enough I bought it a year ago this month for $2.00 at Jackson Street. Still pretty early in (p. 47) but for whatever reason, I really liked this passage on p. 31:

Claude is on his way back to Lincoln, with a fairly liberal allowance ( Read more... )

"You think of librarian as being a nice, innocuous, safe thing to be."

~ Missoula, MT, school librarian on work-related injuries caused by cheap furniture. Library Journal, June 1, 2007, p.13

"For a long time I made up most songs walking around at night, just 'cause I liked walking around at night. And so I saw the moon a lot. It's a really overused image, but there's always ways to use overused images well. To make them new again, or to at least try to. I wouldn't say that I succeeded at that, but ..." ~ Elliott Smith, as told to M. ( Read more... )

I really love this book. Even though I'm done reading it and already on to the next, I hesitate returning it to the library. I guess it reminds me a little bit of Greg and me, only I hope we both live to be 110. More snippets (last time, I promise):

One night, after some fight that I'd thought we'd both forgotten, Renée woke up trembling and ( Read more... )

A couple weeks back my mom gave me the hippy-dippy self-help book The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie (author of Codependent No More & Beyond Codependency) containing daily devotionals designed to serve as an "opportunity for growth and renewal". I've been reading the short entry every morning because I need to be doing something while ( Read more... )

I have elephant-thick fingernails and toenails which is both a blessing and a curse. Last night I stubbed my left big toe on the couch. Somewhat like a baby elephant, I'm naturally clumsy so that was not unusual in itself. It didn't hurt but when I removed my sock to check the damage, I discovered that the impact had knocked the nail clean off. It ( Read more... )