Is it the full moon?

I know there is a full moon at the end of the week. Could that be causing my anxiety? I am much more anxiety-ridden than usual. The car, the weather, messing up a notarization? Just worrying.

So far so good with my car. It has sputtered a bit but has not stalled again. I've been trying to baby it. And I just have tomorrow to get through.

The weather: They are calling for winter weather again tomorrow. Normally I would be a bit nervous, but I am supposed to work til 9PM tomorrow. And I hate driving at night anyway.

Notarization. This is not really a bit deal. I did not mess anything up. I followed my state rules. I helped this sweet old lady with a real estate closing today. Just notarizing her signature. Basically, I check her ID, put her under oath, and watch her sign. Well the title company messed up some things on the docs and put the wrong date, etc. Since I am responsible for the wording on the notary statement (ex: sworn and subscribed before me this___ day of ____.....) I changed the date to the correct one. And she changed the date in the document to the day she signed it. Exactly the way it should be, right? So why am I worrying? OY! I get so annoyed with myself!

I just finished a fun book today. It is called King Dork by Frank Portman. High school student Tom Henderson is a self-described dork. He is in a band, he's trying to learn how to play his guitar, and trying to deal with teachers who give dumb assignments like copy out the first chapter of The Catcher in the Rye. When he finds his deceased father's copy of the book, he attempts to discover more about his father all the while trying to survive high school. The best part of this book is Tom's trying to survive high school. The extreme torture of gym class, the embarrassment in front of the opposite sex, the ridiculous homework assignments...we've all been there. The language is a bit frank, but overall, a great read and one that adults will especially appreciate.

Cars and worrying

I was driving to work this morning in 25 degree weather and after having stopped at a traffic light, my car stalled on me when I tried to move again. People behind me were honking their horns. And of course the light is one with a short turn signal. My car started right up again, but I am afraid it is going to happen again and I cannot get the car in to the mechanic until friday! I don't have another car and my sister has different hours than me, so I can't borrow hers. I'm just so afraid that it will stall on me again. I hate worrying. My family is getting annoyed with me. I can't help it.

Exercise

Exercise is not my favorite thing to do. But I force myself to do an hour a day. I would prefer to walk, either in my neighborhood or hiking in a park. However, since it is dark when I get home, that is not an option. So I do DVD workouts. Recently I discovered Exercise TV on Comcast Cable on demand. Its great. I have more exercise options, and it keeps me from getting sick of my DVD collection.

Journal

Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason by Kristine Atkinson and Joyce Atkinson
I just saw this book on the new book display today and checked it out. It is a mystery in the form of someone's journal. But not just any written journal. Its just like someone had made a journal out of an altered book. Amy Zoe Mason is a wife and mother to two small children. She remains in Houston with the kids in order to sell their home while her husband is in Massachusetts starting his new position. Amy uses collages of pictures, words, and printed e-mails to describe her life and marriage while her husband is away. At first everything seems normal, but then signs in the journal point to something bad yet to come. This is marketed as if it were a real journal found by the authors in an old desk. Its almost like you are peeking into someone's life. It is an interesting concept.

It also brings to mind other books that are similar. One is the Griffin and Sabine books by Nick Bantock where you can read the correspondence between Griffin and Sabine by actually pulling out letters and postcards.
PostSecret : Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives compiled by Frank Warren is another one. Frank Warren asked people to write a secret on a postcard and send it to him anonymously. He posts some of them on his blog Postsecret. This book is a collection of some of cards that he recieved. And finally there is Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World compiled by Davy Rothbart. In Found Magazine people send it notes, letters, pictures, etc. of things that they have found. The book gathers together some of the best of them. I would like to do a book list of books like this, but I need to find some more titles. Any ideas?

An Unpardonable Crime

An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor
Historical suspense.
The time is 1819. The place is London, England. Two strange Americans arrive and suddenly a bank collapses. A man is found brutally murdered and another disappears into the slums of the city. And a young boy named Edgar Allan Poe is sent to the village of Stoke Newington by his foster father to attend school. At the same time, a poor schoolteacher, Thomas Shield, gets pulled into these events and must try to make sense of everything before his life is destroyed.
This is another one that does not move very fast but this is a book that you don't want to be rushed. The mystery may not be very surprising, but the characters and atmosphere in this book are wonderful.

**********

We've had our first snowfall of the season today. Thursday's three flakes do not count. I made it back from the grocery store alive. It was very crowded and I really did need to go. I just got the word that schools are closed tomorrow and my boss said that the library will open an hour late tomorrow. That means that the "little angels" will be in the building all day to use the computers. Everyone please wish me patience.

The dreaded "S" word

The weather in Virginia is weird. The other day we had temperatures in the 70s. Todays high was maybe 35 and they are calling for snow flurries tomorrow afternoon. We don't DO snow in Virginia. At least I don't. And I am supposed to work til 9 tomorrow. What fun.

Apparently one of the "problem children" who live behind our library came in and said that the library was crips property. Our branch manager just said, no its library property. This is why I never want to be in charge. I am a big wimp. I'm not sure I would have known what to say. This is why our security people are so important. They have the experience of dealing with problem teenagers. Two of them work for the juvenile detention center and one used to work for the sheriffs department in another city. The interesting thing about our gang activity is that my library is NOT in a major metropolitan area. I guess its happening everywhere.

The Secret Supper

The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra
Literary mystery
This is one I would recommend for people who liked the Da Vinci Code but maybe wanted something just a little bit more literary. The time is 1497 and the city is Milan. Leonardo Da Vinci is putting the finishing touches on one of his greatest masterpieces: The Last Supper. But the Pope is concerned. There seem to be some things in the painting that might be heretical. Why don't Jesus or the apostles have halos? Why is there no meat on the table? Why is he facing away from Christ? Father Agostino Leyre has been sent by the Pope to find out the truth. Is Leonardo a heretic? And just what is he trying to say?
This one is good, but moves a bit slower than The Da Vinci Code. It is more of a suspense than a thriller, but worth it!

Mad Dogs

Mad Dogs by James Grady
Suspense/Thriller
The premise for this book is interesting. Deep in the state of Maine, the CIA runs a secret mental hospital, especially for those cases of agents who have gone insane in the line of duty. Our story focuses on 5 such patients. One day when arriving at group therapy, they find their doctor murdered. They KNOW there has to be some kind of conspiracy going on and they know that they are going to be the prime suspects, so they set out to escape the hospital in an attempt to prove their innocence. Because who is going to believe a group of mental patients? Actually this is book is very funny in parts. There is some violence and language, but this book is highly recommended (by my supervisor too!).

Book Reviews coming

I HAD planned on reviewing two books today. But Comcast had issues and I just got online at 11:30. So...maybe tomorrow.

Duh!

I've been wondering why my blog has not been visited much. Then I get a comment (thanks Carolyn!) that my blog was not on my profile. Apparently I forgot to check a little box and that kept my blog from showing up on my profile. Duh! I'm blaming the medicine. The prednisone is making me less loopy and I can deal with the leg aches as long as I walk a bit. But I'm still itchy and this is getting quite annoying.

Itchy

Well I've had 3 doses of prednisone and the poison ivy is slowly improving. Unfortunately the medicine makes my head ache and my muscles ache. On the whole, its better than itching. Its strange how different medicines affect different people. My co-worker gets wired on prednisone. I seem to be a bit more cheery than usual at first, but then it goes away. Luckily I have not gotten too grumpy and mean yet. Then I am also taking an antihistamine which knocks me out cold. I went in to work for an hour to do training then came home and slept the rest of the afternoon. Its a good thing its the weekend!

Medicine!

I love western medicine. My dermatitis has spread. I think its poison ivy, its not getting any better and its spreading so I called my doctor back. I am taking prednisone for about 9 days? I also have an antihistamine which is stopping the itching. The prednisone is supposed to cause sleeplessness but the antihistamine is supposed to cause drowsiness, so maybe they will cancel each other out. The only problem now is the headache side effects, but right now I'm not itching so I'll deal with it.

Contact dermatitis

I woke up yesterday morning with my face red and itchy and my eye swollen. The doctor';s diagnosis: Contact dermatitis. I'm a bit better today, but my eye looked like someone hit me. I have no idea what caused this. She said it does not look like poison oak or ivy, but it's driving me crazy. I can't wear my contacts because my eyes are bothering me and trying to work with my glasses on gives me a headache. I am not hiving fun.

Unseasonably warm weather

Here in Virginia, it got into the 70s on Saturday. Unbelievable. This is why everyone at work is sick. You wake up and its 32. By the end of the day its in the low 60s. And the worst thing is that I cannot enjoy it because I am stuck inside at my desk all day.

Not much else happening here.

Weeding

No, not the garden. The library. Weeding is when you get rid of books in your collection. It could be because of age, condition, out-of-date information (especially medical and legal) or just plain not checked out. There was an article in the Washington Post yesterday about Fairfax county public library (not my library) weeding books from their collection, including some classics, like Dr. Faustus, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and To Kill a Mockingbird. If you are interested, you can read the article here but free registration is required. People are up in arms about this. The problem is that the article is slanted. It makes it sound like the library is getting rid of ALL copies of these books. That is definitely NOT true. The director of the library system explains. There are actually quite a few copies of some of these titles. For example, they own To Kill a Mockingbird in lots of different editions, including paperback, hardback, sound recording, and videorecording. In regular print, they own 149 total copies, 57 of which are currently checked in. Thats just ONE edition! That does not include sound recording or Large Print.

The fact is that most libraries do not have the storage space to keep all of the titles that they have ever bought. If certain titles don't check out over a length of time, we have to evaluate and determine whether or not its worth keeping on the shelf. Usually if its a classic, we try to keep it on the shelf, but sometimes we just don't have the space to save 20+ copies of one title. We also check to make sure that it is available in at least one other branch in the system. We have also sent titles to our off-site storage facility. In my branch, weeding titles is especially important, because we are SO cramped for space. And in cases when you are dealing with health information, legal information, tax laws and so on, its actually important to get rid of the really old books so that people do not get wrong information.

Truthfully, I hate weeding books, and I would guess that most of my co-workers feel the same way. But its one of those things that must be done. By the way, we DON'T trash them unless they are in REALLY bad shape. If we must get rid of books, we sell them in our used book sale. The money then goes back to the library.

I felt compelled to write about this when reading all of the comments posted to the article. Especially when I read the directors response about how the article was misleading.

Rant over! I know some people will disagree with me, and believe me, I understand. It pains me to get rid of books myself!

Happy 2007!

Now comes the hard part: remembering to date my checks with 2007! I hope that this year will be happy, healthy and prosperous for everyone. I usually don't do resolutions. It feels like I am setting myself up for failure. But I am going to try to eat healthier and stay out of the vending machines at work. This weeks goal is to eat all of my servings of fruits and veggies. Unfortunately, I did not do this today, but I start fresh tomorrow.