Thoughts on Libraries

In theory, public libraries are awesome.

In actual real-life, they're kind of annoying. Rather, the patrons are annoying.

Countless times, I have gone to the library to read/work/study in relative quiet, only to have the latest outbreak of the cold make everyone around me chronic coughers and snifflers. Or I hook up my computer, get to work, and just get into "the zone" - and a guy comes and sits behind me and starts hollering to his girlfriend on his cell phone. Like, hello! A public library is not a quiet place for you to have an argument with your significant other.

In theory, I support public access to books, the Internet, and multi-media resources. I agree that the public has the right to educate themselves on whatever they need to be educated on.

In actual real-life, I miss the libraries at Oxford where only the elite could get in. I miss going to study with people who are super respectful of other people's study habits. I miss the good feeling I got when I'd walk in and show my library card and be admitted to the world of knowledge and scholarship, accessible to the awesome people who were lucky/cool enough to study in Oxford, of all places - at one of the most famous libraries in the world.

And no one would bang on their keyboards in the study cubicle next to me. And people with the sniffles would work from home. And the book you wanted was almost always on the shelf, because no one was allowed to check it out. Yes, I lived that dream.

This leads me to conclude that I have two options:
1) Start a library, which is half-public, and half-elitist (like, you have to pay to go to any floor but the first one - kind of like Hulu plus, only in library form).
2) Build my own secret library room, accessible through a secret bookshelf door. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind some modifications to their basement.

Also, why don't libraries have drive-through pick-up windows for the books/materials you place on hold? Someday, I will live that dream.

April Reads

I took Amanda's recommendation and checked these two books out of the library (and finished them):
100 Cupboards - N. D. Wilson
Dandelion Fire - N.D. Wilson
I found them to be quite delightful. Magic-y, but not Harry Potter-y. Young Reader-y, but not dumb. A new twist on a classic conflict.

And I read the first book in a new series by the author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan
This book was very cool; I loved how he tied the story into Percy Jackson's, without the book being about Percy. And he didn't negate or blow off some of his original story line with his sequel series, which authors are sometimes prone to do.

Aaaaaand, I'm still reading Moby Dick. In the next 60 pages, we...
a) meet Captain Ahab
b) find out that the name of the whale is Moby Dick
I could have told you that by reading the cover.
Current page: 206

This month, I'm working on some non-fiction and "grown-up" books, instead of young adult and young reader. It's no wonder my brain hurts. ;-)

Oh Daniel

Daniel was doing a project for Spanish class, for which he needed a small photo album. I had one, which I told him he could borrow. The next morning, I found this note on my bathroom counter. (click to enlarge)

Words at the top:
Scrapbook Transfer Directional
  It has come to my attention that you have a small photo album. I want it.
  Please read previous portion of contract 32 times carefully before continuing.
  Thank you for participating in this STD.

Hehehehehehe. My life would be so much less interesting without Daniel. How did I ever live away from my family?

All I Want for Administrative Professionals Day

I want a lamp from this company

.

My Thoughts Exactly

All my fellow book-nerds should get a kick out of this one. :-)

My New Job

I said in January that I had accepted a new job, and I am pleased to say it was the right move. I'm am the Business Office Manager (BOM) at the Rochester, MN branch of Amedisys Home Health.

After one week on the job, I got to go on a real, big-girl business trip to get training from the BOM at the Amedisys office in Minneapolis. So all week, I got to stay in a Marriott and watch cable. (I tried jumping on the bed, but it was not very bouncy.)

After about four weeks on the job, I realized that I was born for it. Or it was made for me. Or something. I love it sooooooo much. I can't really explain why, except that it feels like my whole life has been leading up to this job. Even my unemployment in Portland was a factor in my getting here; if I hadn't been unemployed, I never would have worked for Amedisys as a temp in Portland. Funny how all that works.

I tried to explain to my siblings what I do at work all day, and all I can really say is, "I fax things and write emails and answer the phones and make coffee and files papers." It sounds boring, but I'm never bored.

I always thought that a job I'd love would be in an industry I love. But my life experiences have proved me mostly wrong. I worked in travel and in bridal (industries I love), and I loved neither one of those jobs. Now I'm working in home health (which I'm not even that excited about), and I love the job.

Perhaps the biggest thing that has come from this is, I've stopped trying to get somewhere with my life. This job is a place where I can just be. Ever since college, I've always been looking toward the future, analyzing how "where I am" could take me "where I want to be," wishing I were already onto the next phase of life. But here, I feel like I can invest and delete all my subscriptions to CareerBuilder and Indeed.com. After over a year of job hunting, that is a very, very nice place to be.

Don't get me wrong - I know I won't be in this job for the rest of my life. But if I died tomorrow, I wouldn't regret not being elsewhere. If that makes sense.

What about you? Where have life crazy connections taken you? Or where do you wish they would take you?

February and March reads

I only finished one book in February, so it was hardly worth making a post for.

February: This Much I Know by Wally Lamb

Then in March, I kind of got on a Ted Dekker kick and read:
Thunder of Heaven by Ted Dekker
Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker
Burn by Ted Dekker and Erin Healey

Also, I read
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

And, of course, I couldn't forget Moby Dick. I got really far in February and kind of slacked off in March, but here are my current stats:
Pages in book: 654
Pages read: 158
If I have to read 54.5 pages per month, I should be at 164, so I'm more on target than I was in January, for sure.
The thing that makes Moby Dick so hard to read, is the narrator is suuuuuuper introspective and detail-oriented, and he thinks that we care about his thoughts and surroundings as much as he does. Here is what has actually happened in the first 158 pages: Ishmael meets Queequeg. They get on a boat.

BUT, I have knocked another book off of my "unread books" count on my shelf. Treasure Island makes the count 9, and I'm working on three others.

February/March recommendation: Thunder of Heaven, with Treasure Island as a close second.

What about you? Anything you read in the past couple of months that you want to share?