I can haz cool jr hi libary?

Today I was trained in the ways of the library. I went out to a junior high and was shown the ropes by a woman that works in my office half-time and out at this library half-time. She is the “secondary media specialist” of our district, meaning she is overseeing how the libraries should be run in our district. The reason for this brief tutelage in the biblionic arts is this: I had to be taught the basics of circulation and given a login for all the junior high and high school libraries, because part of my job is soon going to include occasionally filling-in (substituting is such a dirty word in the schools) for some of the librarians when they are unable to fulfill their duties.

Her library was so awesome: bright and clean and filled with cool books that kids would actually want to read, as well as kids that actually want to read them. And she said today was a slow day. She actually had a manga collection. That’s right, mangas in a public school library. I kept comparing it to my old school libraries. My junior high didn’t seem to have any books published since the 70s, and pretty much no fiction. In my high school, it was the same deal, except that I found a couple of rare treasures that I greatly enjoyed (an ancient collection of Franz Kafka stories springs to mind), but that was about it, and the only reason I found any treasures was because I was by no means the average high school reader. School libraries were always lame, and kind of dreary. Not places even a bookish kid like me ever wanted to hang out or study. Anyway, you had to go to the public library or a bookstore to get anything good.

For those of you that have been following along out there in bloggie land, I believe I have mentioned before a tentative interest in becoming a junior high or high school librarian (I’m thinking junior high would be a little more fun). At any rate, seeing how good this library is got me quite excited about the possibility of running such a library, not a daft old place with orange-bound books that are only touched when the yearly inventory is done. Now, this library has something extra going for it that most of the others don’t have: it is in a school that is less than a decade old, versus most of the schools, which have libraries 30-100 years old. So at this model library, none of the books are very old and the space is more appealing because they’ve learned to build schools much more pleasantly in the past decade or so. So it would take a lot of work to get some of the other school libraries to the point that this one is, if it is even possible. I’ve been on the fence about this for a long time, but right now I’m feeling quite interested in pursuing studies in this direction. I need to talk to my boss about it tomorrow, to see if he thinks it is a good idea for me to pursue it (because if he doesn’t there’s not much point to it). He did advocate it to me once when I very first started working in the department, which may be a good sign. Of course, he also told me I would be working a lot in the libraries this year, which I had thought would give me a chance to have a real taste and decide if I like it or not, but I’ve barely been in libraries at all, and the few times I have been in them I mostly did manual labor (Have I mentioned my days at Granger High spent entirely wheeling cart after cart of old magazines out across the speed-bump-filled parking lot to the dumpster, or the day I had to inventory by serial number all of these quality items at Kearns High, just so they could be properly surplussed and then trashed?) At any rate, wish me luck.

Froz-T-Ph??

After at least a year of meaning to but never getting around to it, I finally went and tried some ph? for lunch today. I was sort of clumsy with the chopsticks, but I guess I did okay. I managed to eat as much as I wanted to, at least. I went to a franchise place called Ph? Hoa because I had found their menu online once and knew it would have English descriptions so that I would have a clue what to order. Even though it’s a chain, it was being run by Vietnamese and had a very local feel to it, and there were as many Vietnamese customers there as non-Vietnamese. In other words, you don’t have to worry about it being a Vietnamese Panda Express or anything like that. I must say, it’s a pretty good meal. I wonder if there is room for ph? on our menu here at the Froz…

Pumpkin Pie For Breakfast


Hey, pumpkin is high in fiber and vitamins, so don’t hate.

Right now I’m downloading a Ubuntu disc image so I can try and do a live CD install on my Mac, or more likely my parents’ old machine (I’m wondering if Ubuntu may work better than Windows ME). I have no experience in linux of any kind, and I’m doing this just to see what it does, because I’m curious.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands.

Of course, I may be discovering a way to help my parents get more life out of their old computer, if they are open to a little bit of learning and experimentation.

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving!

Patience Worketh


I went to the temple this morning. I had the day off from work and I just felt the need. I was praying about various things in my life, and I kept praying and praying and finally the answer came to me. It was very simple. As I was reading the scriptures (2nd Peter Chapter 1) the word just jumped right out at me: PATIENCE. Big surprise. Now, I always kind of thought that I had patience locked down pretty good. I have a very long fuse, I tend to not make a fuss, I bide my time. But as I thought more upon patience, I’ve realized that I have never had any patience whatsoever. I have counterfeited patience with laziness, timidity, hopelessness and above all, lowered expectations. I don’t work and wait, I just decide something is not going to happen and I don’t have to bother about it. Just because there are things you supposedly want and you don’t have them yet doesn’t mean you know anything about patience. So, no forcing the issue on anything, but no giving up or writing it off, either. “Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5).

Shopping List

bedspread
nicer coat (not a parka – one I could wear to church or work)
winter hat or cap
two pairs a pair of jeans
Canon SD800 digital camera (It’s in the mail)
Apple iMac 20″ with 2.4Ghz Processor and 2GB RAM
toothbrush
some kind of blazer/”sports jacket”
Flickr Pro Account
shoelaces

I have the day off today and maybe I’d better use it to get some of these things I need, before everything is entirely overtaken by Saturnalia. And as you can see, some of these things I can do without, such as the toothbrush and the bedspread. Staying warm at night and having clean teeth are such unnecessary extravagances.

[I’m crossing things off as I obtain them.]

FHE Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner Survivor

This isn’t usually blog-worthy material (unlike such enlightening topics as soulja boy tell ’em), but I figured I needed to give a status update after what happened last week. So, like a dog to his vomit, I tried that FHE again this week. I really only went to lend a friend some moral support, but he didn’t even show up. Nevertheless, I managed to stay the whole time and converse and eat and dare I say even sort of enjoy myself. It is only through the grace of God. Thank you, Jesus. No, seriously. It’s like an appropriate spot was appointed for me and I was just ushered right into it. That’s the only way these things ever turn out good for me. Some people turn to God in illness, grief, danger, impoverishment. I have to most turn to God to get me through social functions. And God is merciful.

Watch Me Crank That Robocop

Today at church the thought was put forth by my Sunday School teacher that your religion is whatever you think about when you don’t have to think about anything else. If this is true (and I really hope it is), then for the past week or so my religion has had me in complete devotion and subjection to that landmark, epic recording, Soulja Boy Tell Em’s “Crank That (Soulja Boy).” This song has become my litany and liturgy, my personal scripture, the hymn of my days and nights. I guess I need to repent. Now watch me do:

As a matter of Froz-T-Freez trivia to those of you following along at home, this marks the first time I have embedded video on my blog. Soulja boy tell ’em.