Obiter Dictum

Woman's virtue is man's greatest invention --- Cornelia Otis Skinner

Monday, February 28

Medial Epicondylitis

I have this and it hurts. More commonly called Golfer's elbow, I think it should change its name. I don't golf. Librarian's elbow sounds much better, don't you all think? It comes from the repetitive motion of taking things off the shelf and putting them back on as librarians do when they are weeding things. In this case, the culprit is audiobooks.

The last time this reared its ugly head, I went to the doc and got drugs and resorted to RICE to make it go away. Rest, Ice, C.....I can't remember what the C stands for, and Elevation. I stopped weeding and it eventually went away. Had to do stregthening exercises to make the tendons stronger. Pain went away, exercises went away. I guess that wasn't such a great idea. Ugh.

Sunday, February 27

Give me a Break!

Update: Okay, I posted this yesterday and I thought Blogger ate it. Apparently, it coughed it back up!


I called my Dad this morning. I'm thinking ahead (for once) to Father's Day, and I needed to see if it would be prudent of me to buy him and my Uncle White Sox tickets for when the Dodgers (my dad's favorite team) come to town. My dad's second favorite team is the Sox so I figured that's a win-win, right?

Well, the game is June 17th and a few weeks after that my cousin is getting married in Virginia. The very next week is our family reunion in Mississippi (gag!) so he's gonna check with my Uncle and see what's what. That was a nice story, right?

Well, then I ask him if he's started back to walking every morning like he used to do. He and my (pseudo) Uncle used to walk about four miles every morning. Then, both of them had knee issues so they stopped. This is what he says:

"I need to start walking again because I gained four pounds."

Four pounds?! What, is he an F-ing supermodel now?! Four pounds.

And then, to add insult to injury, he says : "And I can really tell the difference."

Okay, STOP THE MADNESS! (whatever happened to that woman, anyway?) Four pounds. My dad is a relatively big guy, my lack of height nonwithstanding. He's about 6' 1" and he weights about 220. 4 pounds. You gotta be kidding me. Damn prima donnas.....

Friday, February 25

True Story

So, this was a funny story that happened to a friend of mine earlier this week.


There are basically two types of people who come to the reference desk: Those who want us to give them info and then leave them alone, and those who want their hands held. It takes awhile to get the hang of telling those people apart, but once you've been doing it for awhile, you catch on.

So, because we have several people on vacation at the moment, my friend was on the desk by herself. There was a guy milling around who was of the hand holding variety. Another friend of mine had already helped him (a lot) the previous hour, and now he needed more help. This time he needed help photocopying like, a million pages. (Copyright issues aside....)

She helps him with the copying, setting him all up, showing him how to do it, and goes back to the desk. A few minutes later, he comes to the desk and asks her to make his copies. She says no, she's the only one there and she can't. He says "If you were white you'd do it. White girls do whatever black men say."

Is that true, ladies? I'm betting not.

To her credit, she didn't bother to respond. If it had been me, I'd probably STILL be in the principal's office.....

Thursday, February 24

I **heart** Cynical-C

I have a new favorite blog. Well, favorite might be a little strong, but I certainly like it a lot. Check out the Cynical-C Blog. I fell in love after this post about tv shows on dvd. I couldn't have described the addiction any better.

Not Funny

You know what I love? I love when people try and be funny and just aren't. This happens to me all the time so I can certainly sympathize with said people.

In a place that is supposed to house intelligent people well versed in debate, our listserv has turned into something ridiculous. Every time someone posts something, anything, then the avalanche of tripe begins. And, to be fair, I don't read most of it. I think I've decided on every fifth email for now, or emails where I recognize the name.

For law students who claim to be "so fucking busy" they sure have a lot of time for their bullshit. Get a life. Nobody cares what you think.

Hmmmm

A woman just stopped by the desk to ask a question. After I answered it, she gave me an Avon book.

First of all, I'm pretty sure the library has a "no solicitation" rule.
But, more importantly, what is she saying about my face?!

Yes I Did!

I watched West Wing. Without prompting. I was at the tail end of my LARC rough draft, and I decided I might as well watch. It was a great episode. Only one of 3 that I have seen this season, but it reminded me of why I used to love the show so much. Too bad the show hasn't BEEN like this very much in the past few seasons. It wasn't quite as good as my all time favorite episode The State Dinner, but I would put it firmly in the top 10 and maybe even the top 5.

Wednesday, February 23

Not quite the match of the Century

but should still be highly entertaining. Chelsea vs. Liverpool on Sunday morning. (or Sunday afternoon if you're actually IN England....) I haven't had much time to indulge my soccer habit lately. And, as I look at the schedule, I see that it isn't even on tv!!! Oh well. Looks I might have to read for Civ Pro instead. Damn.

Less than Stellar

Yes, my LARC paper. How did you know?! So, I'm thinking I'd better swing by the tutors this week and get this new paper buffed.

Tuesday, February 22

Ten Thin Dimes

I bet ya'll didn't know you had to be certified to work as a librarian in the great state of Indiana.


Just so you know. The actual certificate costs $1.00. Which, considering what librarians make, is just about right.

Its Fun to be Bad

Sitting outside Room 300, we're having a lovely discussion about whether all children are "bad" whether mischievious counts as "bad" and if its the parents fault if the kids are bad. A very interesting conversation for some people who should be finishing their Con law reading.

Sunday, February 20

More dating myself

Since I already dated myself yesterday with the Grease reference, I see no reason to stop now.

What is up with the 80s (bad) fashion idea of wearing heels with jeans? I'm not talking about the heeled boot which is casual yet chic. I'm talking about the pointed toe, skinny heeled pumps. With jeans. Its like a.....fashion collision of an asteroid sized degree. Jeans are casual. This is why you don't "dress them up" for job interviews. Casual = jeans. Even if you wear them with manolos, they are still going to be casual. Get my drift? You can't make them not casual by wearing heels with them. I thought we were over this, people! Come on, ladies, help me out. Am I missing the boat here?

Saturday, February 19

(no) will power

I watched West Wing on Wednesday. It was a pretty good episode although I really, really, really am not fond of Josh Malina. No, I take that back. I'm not fond of his character. Josh, I like. Will Bailey....not so much. The delectable Jimmy Smits was annoying at first, but he grew on me towards the end of the episode. And Gary Cole is always amazing. And just when IS Midnight Caller coming out on DVD anyway? (Evan, I can so hear you laughing at me for buying 80s tv series on DVD!)

Pink!

I don't know Lawren very well (or at all, outside of her blog) but I immediately thought of her when I saw this in the Sur La Table catalog.



it also remind me of Grease and the Pink Ladies.

Date myself much?

Tuesday, February 15

I will NOT watch AI....I will NOT watch AI....

I WILL read Torts tonight. I will. Simon Cowell be damned!

Tune in tomorrow for the companion post titled "I will NOT watch WW..."

Just one more....

After reading the plethora of "blog and be fired" posts and stories I've seen lately, I will probably say a lot less about work stuff

But, a very nice man today was a little upset that I would not help him find "the naked girls" on the internet.

First of all, if he would have put a little effort into it, he would have found them on his own. Other people don't have a problem!

Second, um.....just no, dude.

In Observance

Yesterday in Civ Pro, we had a group of high school students observing the class. They were so cute! I did feel bad for them, though. They came for the second hour and it was ANYTHING but exciting. Prof. Cooper did what he could to liven things up for the (yawn) discussion on....crap, what did we discuss? I have notes. I do. Oh yes. Discovery and Expert witnesses. Just don't think it was very exciting for them.

On another "I'm gonna fail law school" note, I accidentally watched West Wing last week. Truly, it was an accident. But there was Leo....I think I might be hooked again. And, I've decided I really don't like Toby. (I know, KP, you heart him.) I just....don't. I thought he was interesting in the beginning of the show, now he just wears on my nerves. They ALL wore (except Leo) on my nerves, which is why I stopped watching. But, it was interesting last week.... even sans the hot Jimmy Smits.

Sunday, February 13

Ungrateful, Biscuit eating, son of a bitch

That's the best line I've heard on tv in a loooong time. Of course, I don't really watch much tv these days. That was from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. I love this show, and I love it even more now that Chris Noth is back in the L&O franchise as Det. Mike Logan. I'll take Mr. Big on tv any way I can get him, but this is a very, very good way.

I also watched about an hour of the grammys this year. I haven't watched since......I don't know when. These were my observations:

  • Picking between the best R&B male vocal was like picking between my favorite children. Aside from Usher (ick!) there was Anthony Hamilton's Charlene. I love that song. Love it. Prince's Call my Name, R.Kelley's Happy People and Brian McKnight's What we do here. I was really rooting for Anthony Hamilton, but happy with Prince's win.
  • Queen Latifiah had on an ugly red dress.
  • Alicia Keys made me actually like that overplayed, overhyped song that I hear at least once a day. She's an amazing talent. And her duet with Jamie Foxx was superb.
  • I usually love U2, but I was very underwhelmed by their performance.
  • I'm not a Jennifer Lopez basher. I think she's gorgeous, I like her movies and I think she sounds ok. But, I am a HUGE Marc Anthony fan, and those two should never sing together. His voice makes hers sound bad. I like this duet better than No Me Ames from an earlier album, though. But, like most Jennifer Lopez songs, she sounded better recorded than live and in person.

Interesting

To me, anyway. And, this is my blog so....


Yesterday, I worked at a library that was not my own. Someone was sick, or on vacation, or maternity leave....I can't remember the details. The upshot was that I volunteered 4 hours of my precious "Saturday before LARC paper due" to help out. It was an interesting experience. I had worked at this branch before a few years ago, and it was fairly close to my house, so it wasn't like it was some sort of hardship. This is what I did:

  • I helped two people find information on starting their own business.
  • I showed one of those two the Cookie Sutra. (its related to the business she wants to start!)
  • I helped a bunch of kids with homework assignments
  • I ordered a TON of fiction books. (and I do mean a ton.) I'm still not caught up on my patron requests, but I am sooo much closer now.
  • I helped a bunch of people with the internet.
  • I helped a nice woman find something on painting, drawing and mood.
  • I told a lot of people "No, I'm sorry. We don't have that book here. But we can transfer it from Central."
  • I answered some tv and movie questions.
  • I talked to some people who looked at me and said "what are you doing here? don't you work downtown?"
  • And, I got through the whole afternoon and only answered the phone "Central library, second floor reference" one time. The person on the other end was sooo confused. The person sitting next to me giggled.
  • I fielded a complaint about our new dvd policy. The circulation staff was glad I was standing there to field this complaint, as they had gotten the hundred other ones.
  • I fielded a complaint that our public printer "prints too slow."
It was an experience, let me tell you. I don't know WHY people complain about things like the printer printing too slow. He was really irritated too, and the other person working with me said that she had told him that before he started to print. So, what can you do, right? He was convinced that "his tax dollars" should have bought him a faster printer. All in all, it was good fun over there yesterday. I missed Central, though. Just goes to show that there are only so many things you can answer with the Internet. For the rest, there is no replacement for a good reference book (or librarian, for that matter.)

Broken car

I am so not happy with Saturn right now. My car (my brand new, only 2 month old car) keeps doing this thing where the gas gauge goes down to empty. Now, normally, I would just put gas in it. (duh.) Except, I have a half tank of gas in it when it does this. SO annoying! This time, I got a little message that said "Pwr Str" when it did this. So, Power Steering, right? Except the pwr str seems to be working jst fne.

I'm taking it BACK to Saturn tomorrow morning. I adore the car. I just don't want it to be broken. Yay warranty but I shouldn't have to be digging into the warranty after only 2 months.

Bah.

So, I went to work today.....

And they didn't need me! This does NOT happen very often. There were three of us there. A little scheduling snafu. And, since I have a LARC paper due tomorrow, they other two took pity on me and sent me home. :o) It was very sweet of them. And, in honor of their kind generosity, I went grocery shopping.....and then I really did come back to work some more on my paper.

Thursday, February 10

Indulging my inner geek

Someone told me the other day that they had read the 1st six issues of Joss Whedon's tenure at the helm of yet ANOTHER X-Men book, and that they'd really liked it. Me, I had completely forgotten that Joss was taking his turn writing the X-Men. After a lot of years of reading, and becoming thoroughly disgusted and burned out by all things X, I tend to block out the entire Marvel Universe. But, deep down, I do love the characters and, of course, I heart Joss Whedon, so.....

I bought. I did. I couldn't help it! It was predestined, really. And, it was good! Amazingly good. Astonishingly good. (Hence, Astonishing X-Men....) I would recommend it to anyone, even those of us who were completely FED UP with the thousands of X-Men books that were only there to pick our collective pockets. My inner geek is happy now, but JW is only supposed to write for 12 issues. Number 8 comes out next week. No one else (save for maybe, MAYBE, Chris Claremont) will be able to do what Joss has done with these characters. If you've seen Buffy, Angel or Firefly, you know what I'm talking about. The man has a gift for character and the same gift that makes his shows so good have infused new life into an old, tired, and overly exposed comic.

If Joss leaves the book after issue 12, I probably will too. But, I'll be disappointed.

Monday, February 7

On the trail of gossip

Apparently, there are some people who think that the evening students are not quite as serious as their day counterparts when it comes to studying, learning, coming to class, blah blah blah. I have no first hand knowledge of the controversy that led up to this piece of gossip, but I wonder why the people who hold this view think that we are here.

After all, if I could go home every night after work instead of coming here, that would be great. I'm going to work extra early so I can get the time off come to class. I'm spending all the free time I have (outside of my job) reading and writing papers. Doing LARC. Learning, in essence, a new language. Why on earth would I be spending my money, taking on new debt, if I could take it or leave it?

Most of the evening people have children, families, lives....I don't believe that people are lax in their committment.

Friday, February 4

Finally

I bought the couch! Yay. Now, I just have to wait the 3-5 weeks for it to be delivered. Of course, that means I'll have time to get rid of Mr. Futon (whom I have dearly come to love) and other various items of furniture (and crap) that I don't need. And find other things to buy. There are always other things to buy...

Speaking of, I also bought two pairs of shoes today. Buying shoes makes me a happy girl.

And I went to the huge fur-a-palooza that was going on out on the NW side of Indy today. It was one of thsoe sales they have out of the back of a truck....I mean, in a hotel ballroom. This time it was at the Holiday Inn at the Pyramids. (Bet all you non-Indy people didn't know we had Pyramids) ANYWAY, they had a lot of....interesting fur type things there but I'm just not that into fur. Sorry. Not a PETA thing, just a taste thing. I LOVE leather, though. Love it. Didn't buy a coat. I bought a hat for my Dad's birthday and a pair of mittens and a pair of gloves. PETA still wouldn't approve, even if I didn't get the mink the guy kept trying to get me to try on. Forget the fact that it would have dragged behind me like a mountain woman's bridal train.... fur coats are for tall women.

And now its time for LARC. Ain't Friday night fun? I love having Friday off. The only down side is that, as the day winds down, I start to remember that I have to work tomorrow...

Thursday, February 3

Ha!

Any Quiz that knows me, knows that I LOVE paperbacks!



HASH(0x88db6f4)
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.


What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Happy Birthday, PPC!

I would take you out to eat but.....you're training for that marathon and all.....

**Yawn**

For some reason, I think today is going to be a long day. They all seem long here lately, but since I don't have to work tomorrow, TODAY'S work day will drag on forever.

Wednesday, February 2

Kinky? Why the hell not!

Let the jokes begin!

But, you know, if Arnold can run for (and win) the governor's mansion in California, why not Kinky in Texas?

A Scientific Poll

Wal-mart
or
Meijer
or
Target?


Tuesday, February 1

Any time you want to stop bitching.....

about, anything.....ever......that would be good.


There are plenty of people who bitch (like me, bitching about people bitching) but there are just some people who do it ALL THE TIME. Its annoying. Its almost as bad as people who think they know everything and really don't know a damn thing. Like the person who said we don't need to join the IBA or network because we're evening students and have a leg up on everyone else in terms of getting a job.

On the one hand, that is great news. That is just one less person I have to compete with for a job because she obviously is not going to be getting one.

On the other hand, you hate for someone to be that dumb.

Or, maybe that's just me. I want to see the best in everyone, and I hate to be disappointed.

In Honor of February and Valentine's Day

And of my buying The Random House Treasury of Favorite Love Poems for work.....


Invitation to Love


Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or come when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene'er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love.
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it to rest,
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.
Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd'ning cherry.
Come when the year's first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows
Come with the winter's drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome

Paul Laurence Dunbar

I'll be off all week

Because I didn't go to work yesterday. I keep thinking that today is Monday, and its not. Its Tuesday. In school terms, I'm on the right day. Civ Pro yesterday, Con Law tonight. I'm good there. It is work that's the problem! I keep looking at the wrong day on the schedule, showing up at the desk at the wrong times......funny, but annoying.

I had two divine sugar cookies today from Crawford's Bakery. We used to go there for lunch when we were still at the old Central library building. The food wasn't as good as I remember it being, but the sugar cookies certainly were. Still, in cookie terms, I think I prefer the Illinois Street Food Emporium. I heart sugar cookies.

And, I forgot we have cases due to Prof. Schumm by 5:00pm today. I have the actual research done, but they have to be in blue book format and did I bring my blue book today? Of course not. But, you know what? I work in a library that has the blue book. Sheer luck, that.