post-five letdown fix
Some peeks at the set of "Prisoner of Azkaban." Mostly of the Knight Bus. Which looks, of course, just how you imagined it.

June 4th is so far away.
6/30/2003 03:44:25 PM  



mud in yer eye
Am, right now, enjoying that icy glass of cola and rum.

Even temporary closure tastes delicious.

My July 4th resolution (New Year's apparently isn't a weighty enough holiday to resolve upon) is just this: If I'm perfectly happy, I will not react to the snitty, jerky, condescending, or just plain rude behavior around me. I will register it, get rid of it, and continue on with my happy day. I'm sure to enjoy less grey hair and lower blood pressure because of it.
6/30/2003 02:05:37 PM  



discuss, please
Has anyone read The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper? I've just recently been picking up bits about it, and see constant parallels being drawn to C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, L'Engle - and ultimately, almost inevitably, Rowling. All these books reside in my library, but I'm ashamed to say I knew very little about them until now.

In any case, I'll certainly be grabbing the first title tomorrow for my summer reading pile.
6/29/2003 08:49:36 PM  



well
I'm done (except for a few administrative tasks to tackle on Monday morning, but that won't take a whole day, even). I'm just numb right now, which is probably a good thing.

At least I had time to grab a couple HP stand-ins from the shelves before leaving.
6/27/2003 04:03:13 PM  



"as heard on tv"
Have you seen what Michelle and Jon have been up to? You need wonder no more what song was playing in that latest $50,000 car commercial. The clever, clever duo.
6/26/2003 04:25:00 PM  



muggle behavior modification
So, I've been just a wee bit snarky about noise and foodstuffs and attempting charms in the library. And today, I thought to myself, "Self - you're starting to come off an awful lot like Madam Pince, there."

Yeah, I finished it last night. Now what?
6/26/2003 03:26:06 PM  



what a tool
Google Toolbar 2.0, with popup blocker and more customizeable features (including BlogThis and image search right out on the bar, what a boon!). That, paired with the Merriam-Webster toolbar, makes cyberlife very good.
6/26/2003 07:42:10 AM  



eat them up, yum
I've been lovin' Okuhara fish cakes for a bit now. D. thinks they're gross. And, frankly, they are, just a little. I mean, look at it. Ew.

But there's just something... oddly appealing about the chewy, seeded fishiness. On bread, toasted, with mayo.

Maybe I just appreciate its disgustingness.

Sometimes - just to annoy - I'll change the lyrics to the chorus of "Fish Heads" when I eat one:

Fish cakes, fish cakes
Oooey gooey fish cakes
Fish cakes, fish cakes
Eat them up, Yum!

I've had trouble, lately, finding fishycakes at Bel Air. Yesterday we went shopping, and, in the Refrigerated Strange Oriental Things (and Tofu) section, in the tray where the cakes usually wait (lurk?), were long rubbery rolls, instead. As I can't adequately describe the hideousness of these, I'll go take a picture...

There. Not the best, but you get the idea.

Needless to say, I was almost giddy with delight. It was, if possible, wrinklier and grosser than the usual seeded cake! And the shape... well, that put it right over the top. Granted, it's not quite as beslimed. And not much good on a sandwich. I'll just eat it sliced with rice and sing, mwah-hah.

But I got mine for the indulging in the sin of preserved piscine pride.

Our twenty-year-old bagger (we know this because she told us her, like, ohmigod, gum-chewing life story - she's also going to see 311 next week, has a bellydancing friend, and a realllly painful hangnail - I'm not embellishing) was a bit... taken aback by the fish roll.

"Ummm... what do you do with this?!?"

"Uh... eat it. With rice. Or whatever."

[momentary cud-chewing blank stare]

"Hey, [cute teenybop bagboy-type person] - look at this! It's fish... and you eat it! With rice!!!" she yells, waving the roll around in the air.

And there are suddenly a dozen people staring at the whirling fish roll.

Back to Safeway.com.
6/25/2003 05:01:29 PM  



on the week before summer, my school it gave to me:

Twelve boys a fightin'
Eleven girls class-skipping
Ten [thousand] late books
Nine disappearing teachers
Eight shredded covers
Seven angry [psycho-militant-callsecurity-biotch] parents
Six nerves a-twitching...

FIVE WHOLE WEEKS OFF!!!

Four Advils each day
Three reams of paperwork
Two more freakin' days

And a BIG GLASS OF BOOZE WHEN IT'S DONE!
6/25/2003 03:20:07 PM  



Salisbury stakes
37 vacation homes on Salisbury Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta are going to be razed.

Mark Blaskovich knew what he was doing was wrong, but the water was calm, the land was his and everyone else in this corner of the Delta was building one.

...without permits. For anything. Ooops.
6/25/2003 06:52:29 AM  



still lovin' it
See. The thing about Netflix is that if you leave the DVD in the drive, you're not going to get a new movie. Nope.

I'm thinking about upgrading to the regular plan for next month when I'm off (we're doing lite, or whatever the heck it's called, with two out at a time). Then I can watch things like "Gangs of New York" and "Punch-Drunk Love" without Mr. Snarky Snark hovering in the background.

"I can't believe you're watching Di Craprio."

"Is that a... chick flick???"

Both are the moral Everest to his "Dumb and Dumberer."
6/24/2003 07:15:34 AM  



hoot
Life imitates art. Sort of. In both, the little owls win in the end, thanks to the few who care.
6/23/2003 06:26:56 PM  



did someone say merit badge?
Well, look over there! It's the new Nebiru Letterboxing site, coinciding nicely with our surprise tenth find.
6/23/2003 03:32:56 PM  



test
6/22/2003 09:44:12 AM  



purple paper people greeter
I'm sort of coveting Rob's alien papier-mache for the library (he does, after all, really seem to be enjoying his book!), but the bidding's gone out of my league quickly. Bummer.
6/20/2003 03:19:17 PM  



yes, it is a field day
The weather obliged, and it'll be a nice day to spend the afternoon on the lawn playing giant board games instead of cooped up. This week held some compensation after all.
6/20/2003 11:51:13 AM  



spring cleaning?
Trade your arts and crafts supplies at the Artisans Exchange forums. What a great idea.
6/20/2003 06:50:47 AM  



poor little me
Seven more days until July (plus one week of August) break. You'd think I could hold out seven measly days, that the mere thought would have me all who-cares euphoric, but I'm verging on a nervous breakdown. I'm too exhausted to even think about next month: all the books I'll read with the kitties, the trip to Portland, the real food I'll have time to cook, hours of pointless daytime teevee, and the shiny floors and organized desk I'll make.

It's getting pretty ugly down here in the trenches. Fights breaking out left and right, kids threatening teachers, and forty adults worn to busted nubs (very many who've decided, after three years of struggle, not to return at all next year).

When I consider again and again turning in the Resignation Form Letter, only two things hold me back:

1. I've been searching for other suitable library employment in the area for two years, to no avail. Two years. You'd think some nice boring university cataloging job would pop up eventually, but no. I'd even do (gulp) serials or acquisitions at this point. But it looks like the state budget crisis has me coming and going! And if I chucked the edu-respectability entirely and, say, "temporarily" went back to hawking retail crafts, which does have a certain funtime appeal (think of the discounts!) if it were short-term, I'd of course make even less than I do now. Not a pretty thought.

2. I have this die-hard notion that I should just be able to stick it out until we end up moving. Keep the life-altering changes to a bare minimum, you know?

I owe all remaining fortitude to my big blue Thermos of home-brewed coffee. I love you.
6/18/2003 10:52:13 PM  



wonky tonk blues
The server died, but D. resurrected it this evening. It's good to be back.
6/18/2003 09:46:58 PM  



spread the word
Jennifer's dog was attacked by another, and the owner of the dog that did it ran off. Maybe someone can help:

Attention, Philadelphians: does anyone living in Queen Village know a guy in his twenties -- maybe six feet tall and skinny, with dark hair and dark eyes and olive skin, with a white and grey, blue-eyed Siberian Husky and a two-year-old daughter who lives somewhere in the vicinity of Fourth and Monroe?

Wouldn't it be great if this guy could be tracked down, and [he and] his dog muzzled?
6/17/2003 04:11:18 PM  



preorder rocks (and sticks and stones)
Harry Potter V in five. I haven't been this excited about a book release since... since The Amber Spyglass. The release date of which was also shoved back too many times to count (wondering, in some small corner, if that helps build sales momentum...?).

And those angry booksellers should just get bent:

Responding to angry booksellers, Scholastic has revised its decision to sell copies of J. K. Rowling's soon-to-be released novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directly to students at book fairs. Retailers had complained that they were losing sales to the publisher.

Well, boo hoo.

Scholastic Book Fairs (while admittedly sometimes a giant pain for me personally) get kids excited about books. Which will only serve to fuel book consumption as adults. I can't believe Scholastic caved - they are booksellers. So much for the free market economy. Is nothing sacred?
6/16/2003 01:40:23 PM  



it's all in your environment
We've had a week-long reprieve from the worst of the heat, and it's been magnificent. Before the temps started rocketing again, we found a new letterbox out in Folsom - and, goody! our first hitchhiker stamp (carried by finders from one box to another) was tucked inside. A well-travelled one, too.

But it's back in the triples today. And if they stick around 'til Friday, they can torch us all to a crisp on Field Day. I already asked for a shady spot this year, and in light of past burns, I'm willing to bribe generously.

Here's [not really] a mystery: my vicious sinus infections have dropped off drastically since moving out of the mouse-eaten trailer library. Even though it's allergy time. Psychological? Coincidence? Not inhaling poop dust with every breath? Maybe I should get the guy who's moving in some pseudoephedrine and penicillin as a roomwarming gift.

We also hung around the old 'hood. Even though it's thirty miles away, we still ran into a student at the restaurant.
6/16/2003 07:04:19 AM  



wanted
One daily walking partner/guiltmonger for 30-something woman with self-starting issues. Previous experience as army drill sergeant preferred, but any strong-willed and highly motivated person eligible - demonstrable resistance to whining/crying/stomping of feet required upon application. Must provide own cattle prod or tazer. Oversexed males and donut store owners need not apply.
6/13/2003 07:18:50 PM  



nani wale
Time for Hawaiian Day already? To get myself in the mood for the big flowery shirt and clamdiggers and flippy-flops, I took a few virtual tours of the islands.
6/13/2003 06:54:31 AM  



last post relegated to the netherworld after thinking better of it

6/12/2003 01:54:12 PM  



got yard?
Even if you don't, you can customize your own Michael Graves pavilion.



The very sad news is that Mr. Graves was struck by meningitis in February, and is now paralyzed below the waist. No doubt I would've been aware of this long ago if it had been, say, Britney Spears or even Simon Cowell.
6/12/2003 06:47:50 AM  



so true
Dos semanas.
Deux semaines.
Do saptAha.
Zwei Wochen.
6/11/2003 05:10:23 PM  



for posterity
My poor 35mm Vivitar doesn't see the light of day much anymore; the digital does a fine job. But I've been pining for "real" photos lately. Every now and again I'll send a favorite digital pic to Snapfish for printing, after which it'll end up in a frame, or stuck in the ten-pound photo file box. Which consists of unorganized snapshots, stray negatives, miscellaneous bits of ephemera... bleargh.

I bought a nice album four years ago, I did. But it's difficult to begin a task so... gargantuan. Even though one of my friends will be running after-school scrapbooking workshops next semester, it still seemed daunting.

Until I realized that I'd been thinking about the task the wrong way - as an overwhelming craft project. But. How many school yearbooks have I constructed single-handedly? Two. And that wasn't so terrible, was it?

So as long as can I approach it as an exercise in graphic arts, I may actually accomplish something.
6/11/2003 01:40:43 PM  



take a picture
Didn't your mother teach you any manners?

Yes, I know my car makes funny noises, and it looks worse every day. Even though I'm deathly ashamed of my butt-ugly Ghetto Cruiser, it's the best I'm going to do for now.

So stop staring right at me as I drive by. That's rude.
6/9/2003 04:23:26 PM  



end of an era, you might say
"On June 30, the second-oldest high school west of the Mississippi will close its doors. Over the summer, it will undergo a transformation, and in September, it will reopen as a charter school. About the only thing that will remain the same is the campus."

Sacramento High School says goodbye after nearly a century and a half.
6/9/2003 07:38:05 AM  



excuses, excuses
I apologize to anyone I might owe email. Due to some strange and rare planetary alignment, the sheer volume this past couple weeks has been overwhelming. And the email server has been a little wonky (maybe due to the fact that half of Marquette has been inundated quite recently), and is maddeningly down whenever I get motivated to write.
6/8/2003 04:37:14 PM  



cooldown
Amazingly it never hit eighty here in the valley today. Perfect for a drive and letterbox out in the Davis farmlands. Don't think we were motivated enough to bike all the way to County Road 95A from Davis proper (though I would've been up for walking it in spring or fall). We cheated muchly. A drive-up, really.

Something was dead and rotting in the brush. We hoped it wasn't a person. I didn't linger trading stamps.

There'll be a scant handful of pictures over in the visiblog this week.

Hungry, we strolled downtown Davis for a bit. Well-treed, busy, and pleasant. And lacked "the smell of urine [like some unsavory parts of downtown Sac]," as D. was quick to point out. I never see adults that I know when we're out (kids are a different matter, as I've said); it took a trip to a city we've never visited to run into a teacher. It was breezy and cool enough to eat outside, so we enjoyed our Italian deli lunch streetside beneath the trees. Mine was pinky roast beef with gorgonzola and pine nut sauce on fresh focaccia. Yummy.
6/7/2003 05:22:00 PM  



taxes, taxes, we all fall down
"For the first time in California history, cities and counties soon may have the state's blessing to impose their own income tax."

Could it be any more like a giant flashing neon sign from fate? "Leave now. Leave now. Leave now."
6/6/2003 06:47:13 AM  



people are nice!
6/6/2003 06:35:33 AM  



grins guaranteed
Need a bit of cheer? Well, you've come right to the wrong place! I'm a hot grumpy librarian who's had to spend most of her day yelling at gently but firmly reprimanding hot grumpy middle schoolers. Contrary to popular pre-teen belief, my very least favorite activity ever.

Go look at some littlekidpics instead (imbedded midi on that last one).
6/5/2003 04:24:48 PM  



glass half crazy
Sometimes - only sometimes - partial redemption will come to you in the form of two bulldogs being wheeled down the street in a chariot.

Just one of those "Fiddlesticks! My serfdom for a spycam!" moments. Carry on.
6/4/2003 09:23:37 PM  



losing weight
It's been awhile since I've sold stuff on Amazon. I just finished posting some good paperbacks (it may take a couple of hours for Amazon to get them listed).

Hardcovers I'm sending to the library I grew up in.
6/4/2003 07:41:56 AM  



wussing in
We haven't ordered our groceries from Safeway since we left our old place in November. With a nice Bel Air just up the Camino, and Safeway and their stupid info-selling Club Cards so loathesome, it seemed ridiculous.

But I'm waiting for them right now.

With triple-digit weather and work so exhausting, it's a whole new brand of torture to lug groceries from the stifling garage to our second floor home. Better to let them come to us in their refrigerated trucks.

Too bad I'm still slightly weirded out by the whole "ohmigod they're delivering my groceries and I'm neither elderly nor invalid!" thing.
6/3/2003 04:27:39 PM  



perspective
I don't know her that well. She's only been at the Charter school this year. I do know that I was happy they found someone so motivated and smart and pleasant to run the tiny library I built for them a couple of summers ago. She's only a couple years older than I am, and has three young children, I believe. She drove a bunch of us to the last conference in her van.

Her husband died this weekend. He drowned, somehow. I can't begin to imagine how she and her young family are suffering now.

It's easy to forget just how suddenly you can lose someone. And rather frightening to be reminded.
6/2/2003 03:43:37 PM  



yeah, pretty exciting stuff
Drove up to the old 'hood, read a lot, ate some very greasy-spoon stuff. Mostly we just avoided skin cancer and heat exhaustion.
6/2/2003 07:35:15 AM  

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