KC snow storm

We had a pre-Thanksgiving snow storm overnight. Leavenworth, KS and Platte City, MO both got about 8" of snow. I think north KC got about 7". Anyway, it took me two hours to shovel my front driveway and sidewalk.

SLIM colleague sighting

I had to go to the Johnson County Library to use their Internet today because I'm still without my PC and my library building was closed today. I went to the main branch on 87th street. One of the reference librarians was MO (maiden name). She started the SLIM program about a year and a half after I started. She worked as a graduate assistant. Originally, she wanted to get both her MLS as well as her Master's in history; but, she decided to just get her MLS. I didn't get the chance to have a long conversation, but I guess she and her husband also dabble in real estate, as well.

Random thoughts

• We have two days off following today to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll work until nine tonight and make home about 9:30-9:45. I'll probably pop in a DVD movie tonight....perhaps Shrek 2.
• Dad sounded much better on the phone this morning when I called him. He is hoping to go home on Wednesday. He did complain about soreness in his legs while attempting to sleep. He still cannot walk by himself without someone's assistance.
• I had to call the mortgage company this morning to let them know that they failed to contact the Platte County Tax assessor's office to let them know that my escrow account would be taking care of my property tax bill on the house. I hate calling companies that have the automated phone service (ie.: "To check your account balance, press 1; To check your cholesterol level, press 2). After five minutes of pressing buttons on my phone, I finally managed to talk to a real live person. Ironically, she sounded like a robot. :)
• I finished putting Christmas lights on the exterior of my house last night. I hope I don't run up my electric bill.
• Finally, DF will be stopping by my house on Saturday with my repaired PC.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Dave

Dad is in hospital

I found out Sunday night that my dad is in a Bloomington, IL hospital. He has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder. According to several websites, there is no direct cause for this malady and the syndrome can afflict anyone at any age. The syndrome is NOT hereditary or contagious. Check out this web site:

http://www.neurologychannel.com/guillain/

I am still planning to go to Lawrence to spend Thanksgiving with my sister's family; however, I am also preparing for a spur-of-the-moment trip to Illinois.

Computer Maintenance and Updates

I took my PC to work today with hopes that DF can fix it. He proposes that I dump Windows ME and move on to Windows 2000 or perhaps XP.

Home PC Problems

My home computer's hard drive is going on the fritz. I will be without my home PC for a couple of days. I hope I can back the files that are stored there. Hopefully, DF from the library will be able to help me.

I apologize to any instant messaging buddies for this inconvenience.

Phone call from AN

I received a phone call from AN Sunday night. She called to thank me for the daisies I sent her in expressing my appreciation for our 20-year friendship.

Beginning of Xmas decorations

MS came over to help me hang Christmas lights on the front of my house. I bought some different lights this year. These are globe bulbs and break very easily if they hit the ground. But they are affordable. I will hang some more lights on the exterior of the house later on this week. During the weekend after Thanksgiving, I will put up my tree.
Next Sunday, I will head down to Shawnee to help Mark hang Christmas lights on the exterior of his house, a challenging task considering his roof is higher than mine.

KU Hoops

Well, with the Chiefs season all but over, it's time for KU basketball. I watched the KU-Washburn exhibition game tonight. KU seemed sluggish but won by nine points.

When I was in library school, the team to root for was the Emporia State Lady Hornets. I hear that the Lady Hornets have high expectations once again this year.

Kansas City Griefs

Can anyone on this lousy team play mistake-free football? Three wins, six losses......ARGH!

Virtual Reference follow-up

I had six reference questions in the span of one hour. It started off slowly, but a middle school teacher in Perry, KS allowed students to log and the questions flowed in. Weirdest questions: Do the police stop by to arrest you if you pull the tag off the mattress?

In response, I referred the young whippersnapper to the Kansas Attorney General web page.

According to my supervisor, the Virtual Reference's organizer (The state of Kansas library) is thinking of barring middle schools from using the VR service. That's alright by me. Their netiquette stinks.

Inservice Day

Today the library was closed. We had staff inservice day at the Main Branch in the morning. During the afternoon, we did some opportunistic shelf-reading of the non-fiction section. I tackled the 907-920s section for about ninety minutes. During the course of the day, I discovered a couple of good places to eat: Johnny C's, a sandwich shop which produced the best Ruben I've ever had in KC, and Russell Stover's, where I treated myself to a double mint chocolate chip ice cream cone.

Note: I work Virtual Reference on Friday. I'm relatively new at VR and our library stats seems to indicate a high volume of Kansas patrons using this service. I hope I'm not overwhelmed.

Pixar comes through again

I just returned from the movie "The Incredibles," one of the final dual efforts between the Walt Disney Company and Pixar animation. Wow! I was impressed......again. Not only is the animation superb, the plot which depicts a superhero family dealing with suburban life, was well written. This will be part of my DVD collection soon. Next movie: Polar Express.......

Star Wars Episode III

I just saw an online trailer for the next Star Wars movie "Revenge of the Sith." I am a fan of the Star Wars films but I don't mind admitting that the prequel trilogy, so far, has been disappointing. I think there are millions of movie goers out there who would argue that they could have done a better job outlining a more believable plot than Mr. Lucas. Also, Lucas' selection of Hayden Christensen as Anikan Skywalker could be questioned. Problems aside, I am looking forward to "Sith" this May.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I just spent thirty four bucks today purchasing Christmas items from a fellow co-workers for his boy's grade school fundraiser. Frankly, I was not expecting these items until after Thanksgiving. I purchased cinamon-bun scented candle, snowman wrapping paper, and some Christmas jelly beans.

I am needing to go to Target this weekend to buy exterior Christmas lights for the house.

Stephen Donaldson returns to "The Land"

My cousin Stephen R. Donaldson had decided to write a third set of books about his fantasy character, Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever. In 1977, he launched this series with the book "Lord Foul's Bane" and has enjoyed success ever since. His Dad worked in India with lepers which is where Stephen got part of his inspiration for the Thomas Covenant character.

I am attempting to reread "Lord Foul" and will read summaries on the other five books before proceeding to the seventh book. Check out www.stephenrdonaldson.com for more info.

Web Page Overhaul

A colleague and I got the ball rolling on the redesign of our library's web page. A lot of the information is out of date due to time and the natural evolution of library services. I am a little bit rusty in web page design. The last time I produced a page was back at SLIM.

United Way Campaign

The Friends of the Library and library staff members have been spearheading a fund drive for the United Way for staff members this week. Events included a blue jeans at work day (which required a $5 contribution), a bake sale, and a pizza contest with pizza going to the library department donating the best ratio of money. There's also a silent auction with dime store bric-a-brac items going to the highest bidders. Interesting week at work.

My duty

I voted this morning. There was a long line at the poll so it took me fifteen to cast my vote, a short amount of time considering that voter turnout is expected to be a record high this year.

Cable Box problems

I am able to get Road Runner high speed Internet access. However, my cable box for my HDTV went kablooey. I guess the problem occurred sometime Sunday as I was in Lawrence with my sister's family and then later on celebrating Halloween with MS and his family. I was at work all day today and didn't notice the problem until tonight. I called Time Warner to let them know about the problem and they said they will send a repairman in a couple of days. In other words, I won't be able to watch the election results Tuesday evening.

AAARRRGH!!!