Random Notes and News

• Congrats to our youngest cousin in my generation. She's engaged. Uncle and Aunt told me they expected the engagement. Now, their relationship will go through a test of separation. The bride-to-be and groom-to-be will be studying abroad during the spring semester--but not in the same country.


• My uncle took the pictures I sent him from my San Juan trip, added them to his stash, and created a DVD trip slide show with music. Cool stuff. It plays well on the DVD player. Unfortunately, the DVD format is NOT compatible with my computer, so I can't upload excerpts to this blog.


• I was also flattered to receive from my uncle a sound recording from his college days many moons ago. The sound recording is of his quartet singing group performing Doo-Wop songs and some love ballads. I shared some of this music with friends from work and they were impressed.


• The weather has taken a nasty turn here in the Midwest. Yesterday, we had an ice storm which closed down the library early. Today, the library was closed early partially because of the cold and slick driving conditions but also due to the forecast of thunder snow and the prediction of 6 to 10 inches of accumulation. So far, nothing much has fallen in North KC, but I hear extreme South KC is getting pounded.


• Still no delivery of my furniture order. Last week I added to my order with the purchase of a new cherry wood file cabinet which matches the color of my new desk set.


• Finally, I started decorating my house for the holidays. MS came up and helped me put exterior lights on the house. See sample picture below. Friday night, we will go to a friends place in Parkville and help with her Christmas tree decoration.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!

I will be headed over to CandA's place today. One of the thoughts I will have today is why have I not received my new office furniture yet. Oh well....



Here's a picture of my empty office.......





Have a safe and fun Holiday season!!!

Cornea updates

I just got back from seeing the opthamologist. The report: he noticed the beginnings of blood vessels floating in my eyes. As such, he prescribed steroid eye drops for both of my eyes. For the uninitiated, blood vessels in the eye means a possible sign of rejection of transplanted cornea tissue. Eye doctors get very concerned when they see blood vessels.
As for me: I'm concerned but I'm not panicking. I've been through this before.

French restaurant experience

I enjoy going to both Parkville and Weston, MO because every time I go, I experience something refreshing and new and beyond my experiences. For example, a few years ago I discovered the underground Irish pub in Weston where they would periodically play live Celtic music.

Saturday night, I discovered the Cafe des Amis in downtown Parkville. I went there for dinner with friends. It is a quaint little French bistro with none of the commercial hoopla that is given at places like Applebee's or Friday's. And yes, you can have a normal conversation at your table while the piped-in music augments the experience...not drowns you out. And I guess another reason why I liked this place was it reminded me of the two restaurants I dined at while at Friday Harbor, WA.

I had venison (cooked medium) for dinner with chocolate mouse for dessert. I would like to come back some day.

Stranger Than Fiction

Part fable, part fantasy, part comedy, part drama, Stranger Than Fiction works for me. I saw it last night after completing my touch-up painting in the office. And the thing that surprised me the most was that Will Ferrell struck all the right chords as Harold Crick. Strongly recommended.

Random Notes from this weekend past

• In a previous post, I mentioned I was going to a German restaurant in Paola, KS. Well, I did go to a German restaurant....but not in Paola. We went to a restaurant in the Independence, MO area. Beethoven's of Paola is now closed. After talking with the owner of the Indy restaurant, we found out that several German places are now out of business. Along with Beethoven's, there's a German restaurant in the Waldo area of KC that's now closed. And it was just mentioned in our conversation that a German restaurant in the DeSoto/Eudora, KS area shut down because its owner passed away. Anyway, I had the jaegerschnitzel for dinner along with a black forest chocolate cake for dessert.
• In going to the German restaurant, I played chaffeur for some friends here in the Northland. It was a quiet drive to the restaurant; but, once we found out that K-State was beating Texas in college football, our conversation was pretty animated as we listened to the game on the radio on the drive home.
• I didn't like what I was seeing visually from the Chiefs today so during the second half I decided to hop in my car and look at office furniture at Crowley's furniture in Liberty and Nebraska Furniture Mart in KCK. As I was looking at desks and leather chairs at NFM, I heard some hooping' and hollerin' from over in the Big Screen TV area. I guess the Chiefs were trying a comeback. I found out later their bid fell short.
• After staff inservice on Friday, I went home to paint my office. I didn't get done with the first coat until 1 o'clock in the morning. But I noticed my partying neighbors were at it again with loud music. And when I stepped out Saturday morning, I saw a couple of beer cans tossed into my front yard, which still angers me. Anyway, I did a second coat after I pitched the beer cans.
• Finally, my three oak trees are finally beginning to shed their leaves. I'm not looking forward to the yard work.

Random Notes

• It's time for some German food....well, at least that's what my stomach is telling me. ;) Actually, I will be traveling with friends this weekend to Paola, KS and the German restaurant there. It has been at least a year and half since we last went.
• At the end of my reference shift, my supervisor approached me with a new project idea: an in-house blog which would allow selectors a venue to discuss selecting issues such as vendors, donations, weeding, etc. I need to think of a blog name for this. Any suggestions, faithful readers?
• I participated on a committee last week that selected a vendor for our access management software for our computer labs. Now that we have our vendor, I think it's important that reps from all four branches of our library system get together to decide on procedures and policies that can be applied system-wide. After all, it would look silly if Library X managed their computer lab one way and Library Y managed their lab in a different manner. One change I would like to see is a rule that all computer labs close down completely five minutes prior to closing. I was painfully reminded of this yearning last night during my closing shift: a family lingered in the computer lab until after close despite the loud and clear closing announcements. The night custodian and I were very agitated by this because staff responsible for closings need to secure the building at close.
• Last night, I had a student from one of my computer classes stop by reference to inform me that she landed a job requiring computer skills and she wanted to thank me for inspiring her to strive to improve her computer skills and landing this job. Unfortunately, I did not get her name or I would have put her compliment in the monthly report.
• As I have stated in a previous post, I have decided to paint my home office and refurnish it. I stopped by the paint store on Sunday to pick up some paint chips in various shades of green. In addition, I made a couple of stops at Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at various office furniture.

The Diet Coke/ Mentos Guys are at it again

I pulled this video from Eepybird.com. This time, the guys try to create a "domino" effect with their fountains. Check it out:



As they stated at the end of this video, these guys have way too much time on their hands. And, I have too much time on my hands if I'm taking the time to post this. ;)

Christopher Nolan makes good, again

I went to see the movie The Prestige tonight. And once again I was quite impressed with Christopher Nolan's work. He is the master of surprise plot twists and he seems to enjoy jumping around in a plot's timeline (which he does tantalizing well in Momento). Good acting jobs all around by Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Andy Serkis, David Bowie, and Scarlett Johannsen.
A potential addition to my DVD collection.