Sacrifice for who, by whom?

How often have I sacrificed, I mean really sacrificed for someone else? not often enough that is sure...

Charles and I explored this piece together this weekend in a free form improvisation of a favorite hymn tune. As I entered the first verse, my thoughts were about my own inadequacy and unworthiness, finishing the last verse with a sense of awe at the love of my heavenly Father. IN the period of a few short minutes, my entire persona was transformed. I can't speak to how that is translated through the music to your ears, but it gave me goosebumps. Dr Falby taught us at LSMF, of the importance of recognizing the goosebumps, and that maybe, just maybe they arise out of an innate sense of our God's love and power over us. I am a singer and I always have been I guess. Sometimes I sing praise to God through song, other times through my physical actions. I pray that my songs honor him appropriately. I pray further that I would continue to see each day as an opportunity.

We as Christians and as Americans are blessed with much in these trying times. Perhaps, just perhaps, we should focus on finding ways to sacrifice what we have for others. The blessing and abundance would be returned to us a hundred fold... I believe, I know this to be true. I am a witness to the generosity of my Father who has taken care of me, and sacrificed himself for me.

Embrace your freedom!

As we enter the 4th of July weekend, I would encourage everyone to think carefully about the words and message of this wonderful song.

We are a nation of freedoms, earned by the sacrifices of so many before us. We should not go quietly into the night making the mistakes of so many other cultures and civilizations before us. Take responsibility for yourselves and your actions at every level. Do not allow the government to take your freedom from you.

Be the change you seek! Join your fellow citizens and make a difference with your talents and skills, whatever they are. Love your neighbors, embrace diversity of thought, and continually seek inclusion and wisdom. Be elite, never elitist in your thoughts and actions.

An Old Guy

Talk about getting through as the gate closes!

James Parker, that inimitable artist from Texas has his own challenge blog. For the month of June he decided to post 'Wrinklies' and what a wonderful subject! Nothing like the character in those facial lines of old folk, and because I'm heading in that direction, I like the idea of trumpeting those face maps.

But the deadline for sending it to him is TODAY. Luckily I'm quite a few hours ahead of the States, so I should just make it.

From tomorrow he will posting pics of doggies - one of my favourite subjects - check it out.

Here's my June 'Wrinkly' with a bit of a glare from the wet paint.

Daily Thoughts 6/30/2009

Napoleon Hill, American self-help writer, attorney and journalist, seated in a chair holding his book "Think and Grow Rich". (three-quarter length portrait) c1937 from Wikimedia

Daily Thoughts 6/30/2009

Today was another steady day. We spent some time discussing moving books around. I also did some shifting and relocating books in the mystery section and did some weeding of books in the music section.

Some of the older books in the music section are being moved to storage. We have some old very beautiful books in our collection. I was looking at a few opera books on the New York Metropolitan Opera and Wagner. Sometimes it is interesting looking at the older books.

Today was a solid pleasant day.

Déjà vu soon? -.-

Earlier I've written that this trip might cause several mini-fights between the members of my family since we're spending everyday in each others company. Meaning that we don't really give each other some space to breath in. In other words, there are moments when we just (mildly said) will piss one another off and this is one of those occasions.

The thing is that my uncle, who we're staying with at the moment, has been coughing a lot and also he's been feeling pretty awful for a couple of days now. So yesterday he went to see the doctor that prescribed him some medicine etc. However, they never took a blood sample and last night he became worse. That's the thing that scares me - but obviously not my mother. I really don't feel like being home quarantined AGAIN, and I see nothing wrong in my way of thinking! Besides, we're living under the same roof, so who wouldn't be scared under such circumstances!?

Mum keeps on telling me that we've got strong immune systems, that his coughing is probably caused by other things and that there are no worries, but the truth is that there are worries. My worries that she won't listen to and that really pisses me off! -.-

Where Do You Volunteer?

Volunteer work.

It holds a special place in my heart (as corny as it sounds). And I'm not trying to brag or anything, but people who know me are always questioning how I'm able to volunteer so much. People act like it's impossible to find the time to volunteer, but it's honestly extremely easy to do.

Each week, I volunteer a few hours of my time to help out my local hospital. And it's not difficult to do! I simply help by doing little assignments here and there that greatly help the staff in the long run.

But one thing I think that people misunderstand about volunteer work is that they believe it's boring and a waste of time. But here's the catch: It doesn't have to be! It is so easy to find a volunteer niche that is perfect for you! For me, volunteer work isn't a chore, but a pleasure!

I have volunteered time at my school with my fellow friends and classmates as a part of an organization talking about the effects of bad decisions while on the road and why people should choose to drive safely and filled with awareness. And I would really like to think that it made a difference.

There are so many different ways you can volunteer in your community. For a teen, like myself, there are many options available for you to volunteer in your community.

-Volunteer your time at a sibling's school helping out in the classroom. It really does help the teacher to have an extra helper!

-Volunteer at an afterschool program, such as the Boys and Girls Club, to help kids with their homework. It is so important that kids receive the help that they need in school!

-Volunteer to help clean up your park sometime! It's important that kids have a safe and clean environment to play in!

So, as you can see, there are many easy ways for you to volunteer! And if you don't want to be alone, bring a friend with you! Not only will you have someone to talk to as you clean up the park, but double the amount of work will be done!

And, as I finish up, I know that there are endless possibilities of ways you can volunteer in your community. How do all of you volunteer?

Alyssa Montgomery
http://amontgomery99.blogspot.com/
Author of Where Are You?, Mr. Mysterious, and 9:53 PM (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).

Daily Thoughts 6/29/2009

Self-portrait of Stanley Kubrick.This is a photo taken by a staff photographer of LOOK Magazine, and is part of the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. Their former owner, Cowles Communications, Inc, dedicated to the public all rights it owned to these images as an instrument of gift.

Daily Thoughts 6/29/2009

I finished reading Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. It was odd reading this book. For some reason it read like the end of a trilogy, but it was a standalone book. There were references in the book to ancient history which made me think that there were books written before this one when there weren't.

I liked the premise that "breath" can be passed from one person to another much like karma or luck. Breath is represented by color. Those who accumulate the breath of others gain advantages like perfect pitch, agelessness, and the ability to use these breaths to animate non-living things.

There are those who have returned from the grave having received a special breath making them unique. In the kingdom of Hallendran, these people are worshipped as gods and people sacrifice their breath to them to make them stronger and more filled with destiny. Those without breath are called "drabs."

This is the fantasy story of a young princess being sent to marry the god king of Hallendran from a neighboring kingdom. She must stop a war between her kingdom and the Hallendran's. An army of lifeless troops waits to destroy her kingdom. There is intrigue, magic, and politics in a unique setting.

The book was very compelling and hard to put down. If you like fantasy, this is an excellent book. There are unexpected twists and turns. People are not always as they seem. What is bad in one persons eyes is good in anothers.

I started reading Building A Special Collection of Children's Literature In Your Library on the train home. It gives me some ideas on how special collections are created.

Today went well. I weeded some more in the 700s. I also selected some African American romance paperbacks to be added and had an order sent in for inspirational fiction. It was a fairly straightforward day.

Armed with a Weed Wacker

A couple summers ago, my daughter Lauren received an invitation to be a student ambassador for People to People, an organization started by President Dwight Eisenhower for the purpose of inflicting American teens on the rest of the world.

Of course, texting, IPod, MTV, Reality shows and all that didn't exist back then, but that wouldn't stop our teens from invading the rest of the world and serving notice why the US shouldn't be messed with, now, or when our teens grew up... mostly because we'd have a new crop of teens by then.

Before Lauren's particular group of ambassadors jetted off to England, Spain, France and Italy to commit mayhem not seen since the Huns, they decided to do a group building volunteer expedition at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

Lauren, of course, immediately volunteered her father to come along ... mostly because she knew, a) I'd do it, and b) no way Mom would go if there was a chance of ticks, mosquitoes or deer flies.

I figured, no sweat. Tall grass, right? I'm pretty handy with a Weed Wacker.

Ha, little did I realize.

Midewin is the first natural tall grass prairie in the country (rumor has it there are a few short grass prairies). It's located on the former Joliet Arsenal Plant, and is crisscrossed with rail tracks connecting a series of huge concrete bunkers. The concrete bunkers are still there, great mounded buildings buried under earth and grasses with heavy doors that would likely withstand a two year old's tantrum.

They needed volunteers to move old dynamite off the grounds. And since teens are disposible, who better?

Just kidding, we were going there to move railroad ties.

Now if you know anything about railroad ties, it's this. They're heavy. Even more than normal wood because they inject chemicals to make them weather resistant. Some of them were under water in ditches, so they were waterlogged to shoe, er, to boot.

We had a tractor and a dump truck, and we weren't allowed to drive either of them. Silly them. But we could wrap chains around the railroad ties, and maneuver them into position. So that's what we did all day.

Did it build character? I dunno. I know it built a hurt spot in my back. And it was particularly thrilling when I discovered a tick climbing the bathroom wall during my shower afterwards.

But Lauren learned something about the world, some history of nearby Joliet, and spent time with strangers who would later become friends during three weeks in Europe.

And I learned you can't pick up a railroad tie with a weed wacker.

Norm

http://fangplace.blogspot.com

Daily Thoughts 6/28/2009 (Ebooks)

Springtime or La liseuse (the reader) Claude Monet 1872

Daily Thoughts 6/28/2009 (Ebooks)

I am thinking about free ebook sites. I have put together a short list of a few places which I think are entertainig or useful. Most sites are very cluttered and hard to us. These seem to be the best I have found so far.

America.gov -- Publications About American Life
http://www.america.gov/publications/books.html

The Baen Free Library of Science Fictionhttp://www.baen.com/library/

Bartleby Great Books Online http://www.bartleby.com/index.html

Creative Common Books are licensed to read but not
resell. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Books

Drew's Script-O-Rama (free scripts for movies and television http://www.script-o-rama.com/oldindex.shtml

Free Public Domain Audiobooks. http://librivox.org/

Great Book Index http://www.mirror.org/books/gb.home.html

Proect Gutenberg http://gutenberg.org/

Gutenberg Emerging http://www.gutenberg-e.org/

International Children's Digital Library http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

The Internet Archive Texts Collection http://www.archive.org/details/texts

OpenCRS-- Open Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/

Poets' Corner http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/

University of Pennsylvania Guide to Free Ebook
Downloads . http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Yale University Books Unbound http://yupnet.org/home/

If you can suggest some more free ebook sites that combine quality with ease of use please let m know.

Two Donkeys

Four months ago I took a two month break from watercolour painting. That was the last thing I should have done as I am now really struggling with my watercolours.

I love the medium but freely admit that oils are my preferred choice. But the discipline and clarity of watercolours will always attract. As a result I have spent ages on paintings, only to tear them up in frustration. Overworking again and again, even though I know I'm doing it but can't help it!

But if nothing else, I'm stubborn and will persevere until I get better at it. After all, isn't that what art is about?

This comes from a photograph taken in the Baviaanskloof area - there was a handler in the picture, but I just concentrated on the donkeys.

Embarrassment is Relative

Mary C. had it right in the previous posting: I didn't have any embarrassing relatives. So I decided to pick one event where a few relatives got to be temporarily embarrassing. That would be my sister's wedding.

My older sister had one of those huge wedding receptions, where my dad invited everyone he worked with and apparently, everyone he knew. You know the sort of wedding where you only recognize approximately 40% of the people coming at you in the reception line? That kind of wedding.

During the course of the evening, which involved a lot of celebrating, my best friend, also a member of my sister's bridal party, came up to me and confided in a horrified whisper that a dreadful old man kept inviting her to sit on his lap. My friend was drop-dead gorgeous, 19 years old, and somewhere between appalled and terrified. I asked her to point out the old man, and of course it was my Uncle Vernon after a little too much champagne. Then there was the groomsman who followed some of us into the lady's room to let us know we were needed for pictures. We stopped him before he started banging on the stall doors. Uh, a little privacy here? And my older brother was seen to be hanging by his fingertips from some construction scaffolding outside the hotel later that night. Sigh. Big get-togethers with all the relatives. What would life be without them?

So why is Paris Hilton at the top of this post, you might be asking? Well, it comes down to this. My family can get a little nuts during happy occasions but, I'd still rather be related to all of them than related to --

OMG, this book is good!

I love it when a book carries you away to a different time, a different life but in the end only affect you and your own life. Unfortunately books like that don't come along very often, but when they do, they leave you so touched that you don't even want all books to be as good as the one you just finished, because that would only spoil the pleasure of reading such books. A book I just finished reading, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, is one of those unusual amazing books that not only brought me to tears (several times!) and made my whole body shill with compassion, but it also made my heart ache by the cruelty and unfairness there is in the world.

I decided to read it in Swedish even though the English version usually tends to be better. However, I was stunned by how well the story was told. The story of the two superwomen Laila and Mariam. This is a must read book and I really mean it! I finished it (432 pages) in two days, so that must be something, right!?

Ad Nauseam A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture Edited by Carrie Mclaren and Jason Torchinsky

Ad Nauseam A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture Edited by Carrie Mclaren and Jason Torchinsky

This book is a compilation of essays from the magazine Stay Free. These essays are critiques of American consumer cultue. They focus on various subjects in advertising covering such topics as the history of medical quackery in advertising, corporate culture, advertising techniques, and other anti-consumerist topics. Many of the essays are quite funny. There is a mix of history, criticism, surveys, interviews, photographs, and pranks.

There is quite a bit on how advertising effects our daily lives. For example the reason we cannot get free glasses of water at restaurants without asking is because of the recent trend selling bottled water. Also, advertising has moved into our schools with pictures of candy in our textbooks and jury selection being effected by television shows like Miami Vice and L.A. Law.

The book is helpful if you want to immunize yourself from impulse buying. The advertising tactics of raw emotional appeal, pictures instead of words, and convincing people consumption is automatically good are critiqued. We learn how advertisers created an emphasis halitosis and dry skin as well as many other modern maladies.

The best thing about this book is the humor. There is a very funny article on the history of "Subliminal Seduction" debunking it. The article makes reference to the book, The Clam Bake Orgy by Wilson Brian Key one of the silliest books I have ever read.

There are black and white pictures throughout the book. Some of the better ones are the Marlboro baby and a tattoo of the Nikes logo on a persons ankle. In addition to pictures there are quizzes at the end of some chapters.

This was an entertaining and informative book to read. It might turn off some people with its anti-suv, prank lovng, privacy oriented, remove all ads from school political correctness, but if you want to convince your dog to love your ipod this is the book for you.

Daily Thoughts 6/27/2009

Cobbe portrait, claimed to be a portrait of William Shakespeare done while he was alive .

Daily Thoughts 6/27/2009

I have started reading Warbeaker by Brandon Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson is the author of Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians. His fantasy writing is very creative.

I picke up two books from my local library, Building A Special Collection of Children's Literature In Your Library Identifying, Maintaining, and Sharing Rare or Collectible Items by Dolores Blythe Jones. This was the only book I could find on creating a special collection in my local library. I also picked up Local History Collections In Libraries by Faye Phillips.

Daily Thoughts 6/26/2009

Portrait of a Man of Noble Birth With a Book by Hokusai

Daily Thoughts 6/26/2009

Today has been a pleasant day. I read some more of Ad Nauseam on the subway to work. It is a rather entertaining critique of advertising. A lot of it is very funny. I especially liked an interview on an extreme fan of the Little Mermaid. People are devoted to commercial products in extreme ways.

This morning, I have been organizing things a bit to prepare for next week.

I also learned that the American Library Association has a Wiki. There is a section on it for graphic novels which is something I enjoy a lot. http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php/Graphic_novels

Today was a rather quiet day. We are labeling in the sorting area for books. We are also rearranging the shelving. I pulled some more gift books to be added. We are creating another bookmark this time for books on autism.

I took a break this evening and watched some of the Max Fleischer Betty Boop cartoons on dvd. I checked it out from the library. Fleischer Studios has some fantastic old fashioned cartoons. I find the music and artistic quality to be better than many of the more modern cartoons. Small Fry by Fleischer Studios is one of my favorite cartoons.

He's DEAD!!!

I still can't believe what I saw this morning while eating nasi lemak and watching that Korean series, the text of the top of the screen that was saying that the King of Pop Michael Jackson is dead!!! Seriously, how can he be dead?! A man like that can't just die! This is worse than Heath Ledger's overdose...Maybe he is not the hottest celebrity but for goodness sakes, it's Michael Jackson we're speaking of...

Gosh, I can't even imagine the size of the funeral...Let him rest in peace!

Does A Slightly Embarrassing Cousin Count??

My most embarrassing relative...

This week's topic is a tough one for me because I can't remember any embarrassing relatives! The closest I have is a cousin, two years younger than I, who was a holy terror when we were kids. No secret. Even he admits it. Neighbors would flee when this six-year-old stalked the sidewalks, slingshot in hand.

I remember one particular bus trip when "Bobby" (not his real name), his mother, my mom and I were going "uptown" to shop. (I should explain that "downtown" was the shopping district in our small hometown. Shopping "uptown" meant traveling about an hour by bus to Louisville, the largest city.)

Anyway, when "Bobby" wasn't thoroughly annoying every single passenger by running up and down the aisle sticking his tongue out at them, he was hanging out the bus window, thumbs stuck in both ears, fingers waving, giving the, naaaah-naaaah-naaaah salute. For you younger readers, this would be equivalent to one of the more disrespectful gestures of today. I still remember my mother's shock and embarrassment, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Amazingly, "Bobby" grew up! Especially considering, when he was about 8, he wrapped a bath towel over his shoulders, climbed onto the roof of his house and did a Superman impersonation. Results? Six months in a leg cast.

I'm not sure if it was that incident or divine intervention, but before he got into high school, he changed. The brat was gone; replaced by a quiet, studious teenager. He still had a funny side and was a great practical joker, but the jokes were all in good fun. He went on to become a successful businessman with many lifelong friends.

So, that's all I've got. A slightly annoying younger cousin. I don't know if I simply don't remember being embarrassed by my relatives, or if I was just too busy being embarrassed by myself.

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning series, "Cynthia's Attic," and "Ghost Light," 'tween fiction/short story (Kindle).

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Daily Thoughts 6/25/2009

Statue of Astrid Lindgren in Stockholm

Daily Thoughts 6/25/2009

On the train to work I read some more of The Carrot Principle. It is focused on the idea that recognition drives goal setting, communication, trust, and accountability creating better results. It is a book designed to sell a business study much like the book Good To Great.

I wrote another bookmark in publisher. This time it is for inspirational christian fiction. We have a lot of churches in our city. I tried to find the bestselling authors. With the bookmark, I also did an order for christian fiction titles.

I have also been doing weeding and keeping the displays up to date. We had a visiting librarian from the system looking at our ESL collection this morning for weeding and selection of new materials.

I picked up another book to read, Ad Nauseam A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture, Edited by Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky. I am not that fond of most mass consumption. I do consume a lot of books though. I am a bit focused on reading all the time.

The Embarrassment Was Mutual!

by Pam Ripling

My brother told my friends that I lived in a closet. No lie. He was, at 17, already a great cartoonist, and he drew a picture of me with the heading, “MOLE HOLE” and taped it onto my bedroom door. Later, he thought better of it, and moved it to the hall closet door. Oh, my friends thought it was a riot!

He once tried to trade me a silver dollar for a plush bunny I’d received for Easter. No dice! I wouldn’t have given it to him for all the tea in Chinatown. I wanted that dollar, but no way was I negotiating with my arch-nemesis.

I got back at him, though. He had a little record player in his room, and although I wasn’t technically allowed to play in his room, I would. Sneak that I was. I turned on that record player and gave Barbie the ride of her life. Grew bored, left it going. Brother came home from high school with friends, had to explain Thrill Ride Barbie. Snort.

He was a pen-and-ink artist. I was fascinated by those little black bottles of India ink. So fascinated that I once dumped one on his bed. Oops. But he delighted in telling everyone that I was in love with Bobby Sherman or David Cassidy or whomever was my current heartthrob. So I wrote on his car. With paste.

Today, we are the best of friends and hardly ever embarrass each other. I think the teasing, razzing and pranks actually brought us closer somehow. Still, I do bring along a jar of paste when I visit him, just in case. You never know.

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Daily Thoughts 6/24/2009

I rather like the cover illustrator, M.B. Prendergast

Daily Thoughts 6/24/2009

Sometimes the day goes by and you spend time fixing the small things; making sure the slat wall shelving is the right one on the orders, working on updating a bookmark on "inspirational fiction", designing the new labelling for the technical sorting area, and discussing how things will be done in the future.

Also things seem to catch up with you; picking up for an open house tomorrow and talking about how to merchandise the graphic novel collection.

The June 15, 2009 Library Journal has an article on Queens Library in New York which is worth reading.

It has been a quiet, steady day.

I checked out a few books. I read Love and Rockets New Stories Volume No. 1 by The Hernandez Brothers on the train home. It was a fun graphic novel to read. I especially liked the story Ti-Girls Adventures Number 34, Part One: the Search For Penny Century and Ti Girls Adventures Number 34 Part Two: Penny Is Found. It is a wonderful spoof on comic book supergroups. I like how Angel becomes a superheroine when she finds out one of her neighbors is wandering around catching bad guys. It was fun to read. There are some nice cliches, Golden Girl can get back in her costume even when she has turned fifty.

The other stories are much more avant garde than the Hernandez Brothers earlier work. Some of it is quite odd. Fantagraphic has given them a free hand to be creative. In one story, a man wanders off into a snow storm. In another story a man gets sick after eating some burritos with worms in them. This story is kind of gross but intriguing. A few of the pages even remind me of Charles Burns or Kaz. It is very hard to describe them.

The Hernandez brothers have been writing for a very long time. Their work is bestselling. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez have a unique style. I find it very appealing because the characters appear more human than in a lot of comics. People are drawn with a variety of body types. Also, the women in the comics tend to have curves and be exuberant and adventurous. These comics have adult themes in them. Love, sex, money, and personal experiences. This is even true in the superhero parts.

I also tried to read Breathers A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne. I could not get past the first chapter. I did not like it at all. It seemed to be a bit whiny and I found the main character quite unappealing. I would not recommend this book.

The final book I have started reading is The Carrot Principle by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. This is a business study aimed at supporting a specific management philosophy. It talks about how you should use recognition to motivate employees.

I have been getting more advertising material in the mail from libary companies lately. I got a postcard advertisement for a book, Virtual Worlds Real Libraries Librarians and Educators In Second Life and Other Multi User Virtual Environments by Lori Bell and Rhonda B. Trueman. I think I am receiving these because I am on Linked In and Twitter. The promotional card is actually pretty interesting looking. Also the Public Library Association sent me a conference notice for PLA 2010.

Set free

I always find the first week here very sloooow but being quarantined made it go even sloooower. However, yesterday at 6.00 pm. I was finally set free from the four days of home quarantine that the doctors told us to be in. I must own up to the fact that I might not have been the best obedient "quarantine person" but honestly, did they want me to die by not letting me leave the house a single time or two!? Besides, I was never even sick to begin with, so no worries! Hehe...however, everyone I tell get very freaked out since it's not the 1st of April no more. -.-

Anyhow, now when I am finally free, I hope I'll get some more fresh air and by that I mean the fresh air you get from spending some hours shopping. The malls have been waiting too long for me already ,and I can almost hear the shoes shouting my name. Nevertheless, I must say that I'm not up for trying on a pair of jeans at this writing moment...I haven't come to the point when I blame myself for eating midnight snacks. Right now, it's ONLY uncle Alvin's fault that he always insists upon treating us food...very late...

Daily Thoughts 6/23/2009

Three quarter length portrait of Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony circa 1882.

Daily Thoughts 6/23/2009

Today has been another quiet day. We spent some time ordering material. I ordered some christian fiction, some African American fiction, and various popular fiction books. I also took some time to look over the Automatically Yours account from Baker and Taylor.

We are looking at a way to merchandise the graphic novel collection. I think it will be a lot better when the graphic novels are merchandised. I have spent quite a bit of time bringing the collection up to speed. There is a lot of unique material in the collection covering history, writing, and drawing graphic novels in addition to newspaper strips and graphic novels.

On the way home, I relaxed a bit on the train. I did not read anything tonight. It gave me a few minutes to ponder where I am going. There is still a lot for me to do.

Ranked and Razzed

When I was twelve, I found EVERYTHING to be extremely embarrassing. I was going through all those awkward dorky changes where I would put on weight for no reason at all, then shoot up twenty inches in my sleep and my jeans would be high waters before I even wore out the knees.

At the time, I lived with my dad, who was remarried—which meant I had a stepbrother. He was thirteen first, so he always rubbed that in, treating me like a baby. Ugh, nothing like a stepbrother needling you every day. (We even broke the knob on our t.v.—yeah, this was before remote controls—fighting over watching the A-team or Little House on the Prairie.)

Anyway, he had this habit of hanging out with his buddies in the kitchen while I was stuck in there doing chores. Standing at the sink, up to my elbows in suds, while he and his friends “ranked” on me, as we called it then, was a nightmare. Ignoring them was even harder. At that age, I was all oogey about boys and stuff, not knowing if I wanted to like them or hate them the rest of my life and become an old lady with billions of a cats.

Of course, when I eventually had my first kiss—there was my stepbrother, staring out the living room window and laughing at me. Talk about embarrassing. I often wondered why I was born in a time when ranking was as popular as break dancing and The Karate Kid. (You can bet I wanted my own Mr. Miyagi to teach me to kick butt!)

They almost made me choose the cats.

Well, I’m a writer now, and I get to use that stuff in my books—and my stepbrother? He is a police officer in a big city—who got razzed when he was fresh out of the academy for crashing all his cruisers. What goes around really comes around, doesn’t it? :)

J.R. Turner is the author of the Extreme Hauntings series. The first book, DFF: Dead Friends Forever is available at Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, and Echelon Press.com

Daily Thoughts 6/22/2009

Monument al llibre (“Monument to the book”), sculpture from the year 1994 by Joan Brossa for the Gremi de llibreters de vell de Catalunya (“Guild of second-hand booksellers of Catalonia”) at the crossing Passeig de Gràcia with Gran Vía in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). I hereby assert that I am the creator and/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of Monument al llibre - Joan Brossa - Barcelona.jpg. I agree to publish that work under the free license Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. 2008-09-13, Till F. Teenck.

Daily Thoughts 6/22/2009

Today has been another quiet day. I spent some time reading Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist for reviews. I also took some time to look at our back orders. Things are moving along.

We keep a patron requests sheet where we log requests for books, cds, dvds, and other materials which we do not have. It is a simple spreadsheet with author, title, format, and call number. One of my colleauges maintains it. I try and order books from the list as much as possible. Lately we have gotten several requests for christian fiction which is something I am going to have to learn about a little more. We get requests mainly for urban fiction, suspense, African American fiction, mysteries, and popular fiction titles. I saw a number of christian fiction titles being discussed on the http://bookblogs.ning.com/ site.

I have been thinking about the number of requests from homebound people a lot lately as well. They often request popular fiction titles to be sent over via the bookmobile when it visits. Daniel Steel is very popular so are large print African American titles.

I read some more of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging during lunch. It is mostly concise tips on how to write for blogs; write every single day, try to stick to a single point, use eye catching headlines, include pictures and links in your posts to make them interesting, filter your comments, and people want to see something new every single time they visit a web site. The advice is right on target.

I liked the first half of the book much better than the second half of the book. The second half of the book focuses on news as entertainment or infotainment. If you want to learn how to capitalize and pontificate on the current headlines or write a popular opinion piece on the latest happenings in the world you might like it.

Many old line media types are repackaged for the digital generation and write columns for the Huffington Post; Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Gore Vidal, Larry King, and Erica Jong are a few of them. The blog collective is left leaning and writes very entertaining stories. Arianna Huffington reminds us that content is king and it is still about the story. The second half of the book reads like a cup of hot ramen, hot, quick, and tasty with very little nutritional value.

Oh, Brother

Virtually everyone I know, besides myself, has an embarrassing relative or two. It's probably a good thing I'm off that particular list...I do an excellent job of embarrassing myself, with no help necessary from anyone else.

There does seem to be a particular demographic which is absolutely plagued with familial black sheep...U.S. Presidents. President Obama was the latest victim of a long, illustrious line of presidents with problem siblings, when his half-brother was arrested in Kenya on drug charges.

Billy Carter may be the most famous of the underachieving presidential siblings, as he used a combination of his brother's P.R. and his own self-deprication to launch a line of beer and a book, "Redneck Power: The Wit and Wisdom of Billy Carter." Unfortunately for Billy, public interest in him waned at about the same time his brother's term was up, and "Billy Beer" got poured down the drain.

There are more, of course: both President George W. Bush and President Clinton had siblings who often fell afoul of the law. Lyndon B. Johnson solved this problem by keeping his brother, Sam Houston, a virtual prisoner of the White House, to keep him out of trouble and the public eye.

So, the next time your five-year-old sister flashes your new boyfriend to show him her pretty new underpants, or your mother insists on showing your friends her collection of your early fingerpaintings, don't worry about it...it may just be a sign that you're on your way to an illustrious White House career.

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, available at Amazon and Quake Direct!

The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value With Marketing And Advocacy by Judith A. Siess

The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value With Marketing And Advocacy by Judith A. Siess

This book is about marketing, public relations, and advocacy for libraries. The author uses examples from all types of libraries to show how marketing can improve the visibility of libraries and librarians. If libraries are not visible and do not speak up they do not get funded.

Judith A. Siess includes customer service and community relations as part of marketing. It is up the librarian to market their services because they know the library best. The book gives many examples of different forms of marketing including brochures, newsletters, business cards, open houses, surveys, press releases, websites, email, bulletin boards and display cases.

The book is an introductory text. It is the first steps in promoting a library. Not enough libraries promote themselves well. If you are just begining it would be very helpful. The writing is very concise, but a bit dry. There is an index and footnotes. I was hoping for something a little more creative.

God has always been on Twitter

As I taught this morning in Open Door, we went through a lot of ideas about talking, listening and when/how we should do any of it. With Twitter in the news so much due to the Iran crisis and its capabilities to flaunt gov't censorship, I could help making one important distinction.

I was teaching my class that we are indeed bombarded with "information energy" in today's world and that it is critically important to demonstrate a discipline of availability to God. I began to use the twitter cloud of an example of how we can at any moment, tune in, and see what thousands, maybe even millions are talking about in a linear stream. The problem here is that so much of it is useless information.

For me, the value comes from seeing patterns and the occasional diamond in the rough. Here is the question: When I spend so much energy listening to what other people say, whether in tweets, 24 hours news cycles, television, radio... Do I have the discipline to listen for God speaking to me in the "still small voice" among the storms. Am I capable, indeed, am I even attempting to spend time listening to something other than the world around me?

In order to hear God, and discern his will for me, I must embrace a discipline of "time out" and just look at the occasional tree, flower, even sunrise. With all of my knowledge and ability, I can't make a tree. God watches and listens to our Twitter cloud of thoughts and prayers all the time. Twitter is actually a poor substitute, because it forces concurrent ideas into a linear stream of information so that we can relate to it and process it. God has no such constraints. He uses his mastery of concurrent diversity to love all of us all the time and hear all of us all the time.

It is my sincere prayer that I can get better at listening more, talking less, and perhaps even unplug from this neverending distraction machine. I value technology, the internet, facebook and even Twitter, but I value my relationship with Jesus more. He is there for me when the power is out, when I am disheartened, when I am filled with hubris, and even when I fail. He loves me when I succeed and when I fail, and he is my Abba father... my refuge and my vision/hope for the future.

All of this came out of 1 Samuel 3:1-10
If I could have, I would have put this on to Twitter in a series of Tweets.. alas, I am too old to be able to express my thoughts that succinctly. Perhaps, I'll leave that to my kids for the future. I am stuck in blog/email world for this level of complex thinking.

Daily Thoughts 6/21/2009

Lucius Apuleius author of Metamorphasis or The Golden Ass

Daily Thoughts 6/21/2009

I joined Selection- L this morning, a mailing list for selection librarians. Hopefully, it should be somewhat useful.
http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/selection-l

Gaming In Libraries the Course http://www.gamesinlibraries.org/course/?page_id=117

After readings some of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by The Editors of The Huffington Post With An Introduction by Arianna Huffington I decided to make some minor changes to the sidebar of this blog. I have added a disclaimer at the bottom of the blog. I also have added the Creative Commons Attributions Unported 3.0 License. I am asking you to acknowledge any use of the content of this blog. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Feel free to make any comments on this decision. It is the first time I am doing this.

WALL-E Fiction or Future?

If you watched WALL-E you know the story of the dump-truck like robot, in a world no longer harvesting the ingredients to support life. Disney did a great job, but one must wonder if the
majority of our younger viewers understood the message behind WALL-E?


In the movie, even WALL-E is a robot of the past, long outdated
and forgotten. Abandoned.
His only companion, and who would have thought of that, a cockroach!


It struck me when he discovers the plant, the only natural green that recovered in the closed environment of a safe.
The world described in the movie is much like the world we live in today. "Yeah right," you're gonna mumble between your teeth now, aren't you?





You saw the red clothed people in the movie, leaned back on their hovering creepers, with legs not developed to walk? Sipping extra large sodas, chatting on monitors mounted to their hovering recliners? Then you must have noticed the holograph billboard and its suggestion to try "blue" then they all pushed a button and their clothes turned blue?


When was the last time you walked, or rode a bike to the store? Did you know your Super-charged V8 pick-up, or SUV you feel so safe in, burns twice as much gas when you fire it up just to go down to the store, half a mile away, to pick up a gallon of milk?
Most wear and tear to its internally moving engine parts, takes place when the engine is not fully warmed up to its designated operating temperature, every time you run it. I bet you didn't know that either?

I see a ton of similarities in the world we live in today and the world WALL-E lives in. Look at my last photograph, then click here to read more about abuse and destruction, committed to our planet.




Martin's blog

Martin's Myspace

The Insiders Guide To Creating Comics And Graphic Novels by Andy Schmidt

The Insiders Guide To Creating Comics And Graphic Novels by Andy Schmidt Featuring Tips & Insight From Comics Masters: Neal Adams, John Byrne, David Finch, Klaus Janson, Karl Kesel, John Romita, Jr. and Many More.

This is a book on how to put together superhero comics by an editor who worked at Marvel and is now a senior editor at IDT Books. It is very much a guy book. None of the guest artists are women. The guest artists are some of the most popular artists currently working in the superhero comics business. They are featured in single page biographical spreads. The book was printed in 2009 so the information is very current.

The craft of making modern comics is covered in detail in this book. The book itself is very interesting to look at. The pages are a bright yellow, and they have many colorful images from comics including splash pages from comics like Captain America, X-Factor, Gray Area, Defenders, The Pulse and many other mainstream titles.

The book is broken up into chapters on different technical subjects in making comics; lighting, panel layout, inking, coloring, lettering, and the use of space. It is not just about the technical aspects of drawing it also covers how to create comics scripts, show emotion, and create believable characters. In the script section they have a piece of the script from Captain America #1 which was quite entertaining.

An interesting aspect of the book is that it also covers where film and photography meet with comics. There are technical sections on camera angle, point of view, lighting, and many techniques that come from film. I found this rather fascinating.

The writing is clear and to the point. It follows Andy Schmidt's maxim of first communicate then entertain. I learned a lot of technical points about graphic novels which I had not known before. Maybe I will be able to use them in future graphic novel reviews.

Daily Thoughts 6/20/2009

A portrait of the poet Basho, with his most famous poem "An old pond - a frog jumps 1820, by Kinkoku Yokoi

Charles De Lint has a new fantasy novel coming out in trade paperback Medicine Road. Charles Vess one of my favorite illustrators is doing the illustrations.

Another book came in for me to read today, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by the Editors of Huffington Post with an introduction by Arianna Huffington.

Daily Thoughts 6/20/2009

Web Bits

An article on Ray Bradbury in support of libraries. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/20ventura.html?_r=1

A Dog called Khaya

Another painting of a young dog from DARG.

Khaya and her companion, were left to fend for themselves and were picked up wandering on the N7 highway just outside Cape Town (the main West Coast Road). Both youngsters, Khaya is a cross Husky Lab, were obviously just dumped as people become less and less able to feed and care for them.

An unusual name, Khaya is the Zulu (and Xhosa) word for 'home'. And the good news is that both Khaya and her "sister", Ujo, have just been adopted. I'm hoping that the new owners will donate to DARG for Khaya's portrait. Fingers crossed!

Plastic Power!

Okay, everyone's been on a major "Go Green" kick this week on the blog and for the past few years in the rest of the world. That's great. No, seriously it's GREAT!

The only thing is- what can one person do all by themselves? What can you accomplish by putting your empty soda can or water bottle in that special green container? What's the power of your plastic?
RECYCLING:
1 aluminum can will save enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a tv for 2 hours. That same can might return to the grocer's as a new and filled can in 90 days or less after the recycling process.
1 1-Liter soda bottle is enough plastic to make a ruler for next school year.
5 to 11 1-Gallon milk jugs is enough to make a frisbee.
14 20-ounce greens soda bottles can make an extra-large t-shirt.
85 20-ounce soda bottles will make enough material to fill a sleeping bag.
96 1-Gallon milk jugs can make a 6 ft long piece of 2x4 lumber.
125 aluminum cans will save enough energy to power the average home for an entire day!
1000 1-Gallon milk jugs is enough material for a park bench.
1200 plastic bottles is enough for a 200 lb. railroad tie.
12000 plastic bottles is enough for a boat! See below...
1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas and 7.4 cubic yards in a landfill!

What else can your plastic do for you? A Mr. De Rothschild is building an entire boat out of empty bottles! This year, he is going to try and sail it from California to Australia. Check out the Plastiki here!

What's the value of your glass and your paper? Visit the Bergen County (NJ) Utility Authority.
And just where does that bottle go to be made into all this cool stuff?
For more statistics check out Earth911.

Iris
enter Sam's Space now!
Read Just One of the Guys and find out how the band uses its water! On sale now!

Not a very pleasant flight -.-

Back sooner than expected I must say, and with me I have a lot of luggage to unpack if you can call it that. Not even a week has past since my arrival and I've already been shocked by the heat (32°C at my arrival on Monday morning), hunted by a grasshopper and then been put in quarantine! Yes, it's true.

As late as on Friday morning (yesterday), some doctors arrived to grandpa's house with masks and inquiry forms about the symptoms for H1N1. Obviously, a person coming from NY (MAS that we fly with comes from there, before continuing through SWE to Malaysia) was infected and now isolated at a hospital here in Malaysia.

My first though after overhearing the "early morning" call my mother reluctantly took, I instantly knew what it was about and the first thing I said when she came back to the room was. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

Even though the risk for being tested positive is minimal at this point (since so many days have passed and none of us have shown any symptoms) the over sensitive part of me is taking over. All I keep thinking is I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! But even though we haven't got any symptoms, we have to take our temperature twice a day until Monday and then a nurse will call and check it. Goodness, I can't believe that this is happening to me nor my family, but I guess that's what everyone else on that flight, and other infected flights are thinking too. However, the most hilarious thing is that if we really would be H1N1 positive, God knows how many infected there must have been on the Pasar Malam (market) we went to on Wednesday! Hahaha...OK, better not joke about these kind of stuff.

However, I just have to say how funny it is that I'm actually in quarantine when my mum has never even grounded me before!

Daily Thoughts 6/19/2009

Herman Hesse, photograph taken 1927.

Daily Thoughts 6/19/2009

Today was another pleasant day. On the way in to work, I finished reading The Insiders Guide To Creating Comics and Graphic Novels by Andy Schmidt. It is a very interesting title. I am going to probably write a review tomorrow. I think the book will give me a better idea on how to review graphic novels. There is a lot of terminology in the book which was new to me.

This morning I had a few gift books added to the collection. I also filed some looseleafs for the law collection, this time it was New York Official Code of Rules and Regulations. We are getting a lot of requests for summer reading already. A lot of people are asking for Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner.

The laws for immigration have changed for citizenship and green cards in the United States. The citizenship test books before 2008 are not valid. I ordered several current books on becoming a citizen as well as a few books on getting a green card because of this.

I also spent some time this morning going over Titlesource 3 from Baker and Taylor with the childrens staff and looking at it a little more closely.

They are moving around furniture today. This includes putting in new carpeting in some parts of the library.

I left a bit early this afternoon to take care of car trouble. On the way to pick up my car, I read The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value with Marketing and Advocacy by Judith A. Siess. It talks about how customer service is essential in retaining library patrons.

Shocking Facts

Everyone is “going green” these days. It’s not just a fad or the new cool thing to do; this is the way of the future. We all know that right? Still, just about everyone is not “pure green” meaning you still will use Styrofoam, or you might throw away a can or two if taking it home isn’t convenient. The question is do you really know why we are going green? Sure you know about climate change, and greenhouse gasses, but let me share with you a list of facts that will make you think next time you throw away that soda can or take separate cars to parties.

Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half that can filled with gasoline.

Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.

North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

Every year some 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans. One of the results of this is that up to one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash such as fishing gear, six-pack yokes, sandwich bags, and Styrofoam cups.

Food waste includes leftover portions of meals and trimmings from food preparation activities in kitchens, restaurants and fast food chains, and cafeteria. Food waste is the third largest component of generated waste (after yard waste and corrugated boxes) and second largest component of discarded waste, after yard waste. The amount of food waste generated in the waste stream has increased by 1.2 million tons in the last 25 years; this is one of the lowest increases on a percentage basis of any component of the waste stream.

The United States generates approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year. That's 4.3 pounds per person per day.

This information courtesy of your friends at http://www.green-networld.com
How about that for putting things in perspective? I know you all do your part when it comes to being green and no one is perfect, but the next time you think it’s a pain in the neck to take that soda can with you or you're going to get a Styrofoam box for your leftovers, think about this blog and think again.

Go above and beyond… Sound off on the creative things you do that might be a little out of the box to be green. I am always looking for that neat new tip to save energy, money and our planet.


http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com

A Complaint Is A Gift Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller, 2nd Edition

A Complaint Is A Gift Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong, 2nd Edition by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller

This book is about how to use complaints as a way to improve customer service and quality in corporations. Places like Zappos.com, Dell, Amazon, and IBM are covered. It would have been nice if they included material for nonprofits and government agencies.

A process of dealing with complaints called the "Gift Process" is described. It focuses on thanking the customer for the complaint, acting immediately, and getting feedback on how to improve service quickly. There are numerous examples of how to do this both verbally and in writing.

There are many other things covered as well; the proper way to complain to get results, why people do not complain, how to create goodwill, and how to interact with angry customers. The authors remind us that most people who complain are regular users of a service. Those who do not complain and are dissatisfied stop using your service.

I found the section on how to handle personal complaints and criticism interesting and potentially useful. There are guidelines for distinguishing between constructive criticism and personal attacks.

This book was recommended to me by a librarian at the Westchester Library Association conference. It is worth reading.

Daily Thougths 6/18/2009

The King's library at Buckingham House from Pyne's Royal Residences (1819).

Daily Thoughts 6/18/2009

I am reading The Insider's Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels by Andy Schmidt Featuring Tips & Insight From Comics Masters: Neal Adams, John Byrne, David Finch, Klaus Janson, Karl Kesel, John Romita Jr. and Many More. The book immediately starts off with an interesting idea; the first job of a writer is to communicate clearly to the reader and the second is to be entertaining. I rather like it.

One of the reasons I like to read about the technique of how graphic novels are put together is because they are based on the concept of storyboarding. Graphic novels, films, fashion design, animation, and video games all use storyboards. Many of the techniques crossover between the different arts. Graphic novels are written as scripts much like films. This is one of the reasons so many graphic novels are being turned into films.

I did not do much today. I have a day off because I am working this Saturday. I did go for a short walk up the hill in the rain to my local library to drop off a book. I also spent some time fooling around with Twitter.

If you order Spanish language titles Criticas has resumed publishing. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6666098.html?desc=topstory

Going Green: Recycle and Reuse

A visit to a school got me thinking unexpectedly about recycling and waste.

The kids were cleaning out their desks as school ended the next day. Besides, the papers and assorted junk kids collect all year, they had a number of unwanted pens and pencils. They, too, went in the garbage.

I watched this and something didn't feel right. Most of the pens and pencils were in good shape, maybe they needed a little sharpening. Most weren't chewed up; the erasers were barely used. So, why throw them away?

No, big deal, right? A few cents each. No need for them in the summer. New items will be bought in the fall.

But those unwanted pens and pencils would mean a lot to some other kids who can't readily get them or don't have the money to buy them.

I remembered seeing something on TV about African schools. Many students there rely on outside organizations to pay the fees they need to attend school. Getting supplies is another matter.

So, when it comes to recycling, why not collect still good supplies to send to African schools? This could be a great school project and something that would help others. I hope to suggest this to some teachers for the next school year and see what happens.

Postage is of course costly, but maybe there can be a penny drive to help. Or some organization would cover the costs or ship the items with their goods?

Maybe there are similar programs in the US, too, where new and slightly used supplies can be donated to poverty-stricken schools. Either way, this can be another way to recycle and help those in need.