Good Afternoon

An old clipping from the New York Times.

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon. I was reading the New York Times Book Review this morning and I came across a very interesting title; James Galbraith The Predator State How Conservatives Abandoned The Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. It seems to have very strong mixed reactions. We need to read something different than what is happening now. James Galbraith is John Kenneth Galbraith's son. Maybe we will get a little wind too blow away the smoke and mirrors. I put the book on hold.

Also, Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez came in for me to read. I cracked the book today.

A. Lee Martinez has a website for his books. http://www.aleemartinez.com/ . I am definitely a fan of his work having read Gil's All Fright Dinner, and The Automatic Detective. I find him to be a humorous but versatile writer. I would compare him to Terry Pratchett or Robert Asprin.

Life keeps on going doing the usual things. I weeded a bunch of books in social sciences again this morning. I cleared off the 9/11 display and put up a display of current computer books that are coming in right now. I am trying to include books on devices as well as computers, cell phones, ipods, blackberries, game machines, digital cameras, and all the peripherals (or tethered devices) that go with computers.

I hope I get a chance to do more of the law looseleafs as well as ordering annual reports. None of this is easy.

I did a brief time putting looseleafs in the law books. I always pace myself when I do this. I try to do a little bit every day for an hour a day so it does not overwhelm me. It is impossible to finish most of the tasks I am doing in one sitting. On that note, I also ordered more annual reports. It is a long task once it starts. I ordered one book oriented annual report today, The New York Times Company.

I also placed a short list of social science books to order.

I am going to order more computer books tomorrow. They are literally flying out the door. There is a tremendous demand for computer books. The most popular computer books are photoshop and digital photography books. After this, we get requests for web design and blogging. We could probably never order quite enough computer titles.

On a less solemn note, I did some more writing exercises from Writing Begins With the Breath by Laraine Herring. This is a short poem from one of them.

Writing

Pen moves rolls and dips

Releasing black ink on the page

Nouns verbs form stories

I like to think of writing as a metaphor of a ship sailing on a sea trying to reach a distant land. The oars write on the sea moving the ship forward towards its destination. I am not sure where this came from, but it is a recurring theme which I experience when writing short poems.

Afternoon Thoughts, Evening Thoughts

Sandro Botticelli

Afternoon Thoughts

I have been reading more of The Sound on the Page by Ben Yagoda. What separates this book from almost every book I have ever read is the extraordinary ability of the author to quote people at exactly the right time. He has quotes from original interviews as well as past quotes.
A quote which I particularly enjoyed was:

Benjamin Disraeli, "It is style alone by which posterity will judge a great work."

On a more pedestrian note, I have been ordering annual reports. Sometimes requesting these things is one of the worst most interminable things to do. This is especially true if you get a customer service person who does not want to transfer you, but puts you on endless hold. Then you have to search around the company website for an email to investor relations.

I have found that internet forms to fill out requesting annual reports are often far easier to handle than secretaries. You simply fill out the forms and pray that they send you the annual report. For some reason, they are more often likely to do this than if you talk to the investor relations person who sometimes loses your request.

Most of the company reports for publicly traded company annual reports I request are either very local in the surrounding counties, or are the biggest companies in the state of New York. The majority of the time people request paper annual reports is not for reasons of finances, but to read about the company for a job interview. This is the main reason we still keep the paper annual reports drawer. The majority of people who are looking only at finances will just look the SEC report online.

I am going to anger you now, with an account of deeply boring tedium. I spent a bit more time weeding today. I have also been replacing some of the older titles with new editions.

I also spent some time replacing the looseleaf pages in the law books. This is supremely boring to do. It is so boring it is almost meditative. It does require accuracy, however. Sometimes, it requires when the window is open you block the area off so the the thin pages don't fly away as well.

Laws must be constantly updated because of the continuous arrival of new cases. At the same time, it is very hard to let go of anything because law is based on precedent. Thus every law collection I have ever seen in a library, unless it is mostly online has run out of space.

Evening Thoughts

My goal is coming to fruition and rising to a head. My immediate supervisor recommended me as the person with the most knowledge of books in the library for collection development to the new director. I was a bit surprised today that he did this. It is one step in a slow crescendo towards a goal.

This gives me two recommendations in step towards what I want to get. We are having the collection development meeting that was cancelled tomorrow. Also, the director said that my goals were in line with what she was seeking in changing the collection. I will have to talk specifics very soon. I am thinking it out carefully right now. I will have to be very careful about what I say. I like to be methodical about these things.

Right now, I am trying to outline a strategy in my mind before I do anything. Of course like everything, it will change from what I am thinking about. This blog has helped me focus on the issue. I know, I know it is one of those things which is not deeply fascinating to you, but it helps me focus.

Starting the Day (Poetry)

An Illustration by Edmund Dulac of the Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam. This was done in 1909.

Here is the verse that goes with it from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald:

Look to the blowing Rose about us-- "Lo
Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow,
At once the silken tassel of my Purse
Tear, and and its Treasure on the Garden throw."




I've finished reading Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy. The next thing for me to do is go back through it and take notes on a few different points so I can write the review. I usually like writing long hand notes for the review, not on the computer. Then I put it into the computer.

I put Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing on reserve. I am more interested in the poetry than the religious writing. I like some religious writings for their poetic content. I'll read the Tao Te Ching for example in a secular sense because I enjoy the poetry. My favorite part of the old testament is The Song of Solomon for the same reason. I really enjoy the poetic quality of the writing. Very philosophical poetry is deeply interesting to me, De Rerum Naturae (The Nature of Things) by Lucretius is one of the books which I have read several times. Right now, I have the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam rendered into english verse by Edward Fitzgerald in front of me. It is appropriately illustrated by Edmund Dulac, one of my favorite illustrators.

I feel as if I am just waking up for the day. I'll write a few more lines as I think of other things.

I've spent quite a bit of time today ordering phone books from Verizon and Yellow Book. Verizon will charge for certain books outside of the county where I work so I have to be careful which books I order. Yellow Book charges if you order more than two different books, $2.50 per additional book past the first two titles. I have a selection list from the last time I ordered phone books. There is a law about how many phone books you can order for a specific location listed in the New York Code of Rules and Regulations. Some people still prefer to use the phone book to look up local numbers. They don't want to use the internet.

I also spent a lot of time requesting annual reports over the internet. I usually first contact the company from their website. If there is no email or standard computer request form for annual reports I'll end up calling them. Requesting annual reports by email is much easier to do than phoning the companies. You don't have to deal with call waiting. Most of the companies are in the New York area. I still have quite a few to contact. In a way it seems to be a waste. Every company has reports online now.

I read a bit more of the Fables graphic novel series. I am going to give some spoilers. Gepetto who made Pinocchio is the adversary. Pinocchio makes a very interesting character, Pinocchio is stuck permanently as a small boy. The art is very colorful. There are a lot of very bright colors used. They are bringing in different settings to the story now. There is the land of the Cloud Giants and the Arabian Nights. You also have some tales set during different historical periods. Hansel is a witchhunter. Bigby Wolf (The Big Bad Wolf) helps the allies in World War II. Fables has won quite a few Eisner awards.