Finals and what not

I am so excited that this semester is almost over. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am fairly certain that I will pass all of my courses this semester. I am taking three courses next semester: Young Adult Literature, Management in Libraries, and Information Storage and Retrieval. I think that it will be another bear of a semester, but at least I should really enjoy my YA Lit class. So, two more courses in the summer, I’ll take comps in July and hopefully be done. I can not even imagine what I will do with all that extra time. I have been in college for 8 years now, so I think I might go a bit crazy with all of that unstructured time! I definitely want to take a big trip after graduation. Maybe to the Grand Cannon or something. I don't think we will be able to afford a trip to Italy....but that would be awesome!

On a side note, Cowboy tore his ACL last week. He has had surgery and is doing well. I will post a picture of his sad little shaved leg soon! :)Dawn

Pumpkin-palooza

Here are the pumkins that Chas and I carved this year.

Here is Chas pumpkin. He was going for a Charlie Brown great pumpkin.

Here is my scary pumpkin!

Howling good Halloween!

Here is a picture of me and Sally at the teen halloween party. Sally is Cleopatra and I am Athena! We had about 25 teens at the party, it was awesome!



Here is a picture of me as a go-go/punk rock girl. I had to improvise my costume on Halloween day at work because my Athena dress was a bit stinky!

Victory!

I have completed my first project for my computers class. I have to say for a minute there it was really touch and go, but now I am feeling much more confident. Not only did I complete the project, but I received a perfect score on it. Awesome!

My academic libraries class is however frustrating me. The lazy professor does not grade us herself, rather she puts us in groups and has everyone act as a group leader twice during the semester. The group leaders for the week have complete control over what grade you get for that lesson. I totally disagree with a grade given to me during week one. I contacted the professor and not only is there nothing I can do about it, but I am also not allowed to see the comments that the group leader made about me. What a freaking crock. I can not believe that I paid $1000 for this course only to have my stupid classmates grade me. What in the heck do we even need the professor for?

I am pretty psyched about going to see the author Mo Willems at a local bookstore tomorrow. I LOVE his books so much. I had the store place three on reserve for me. I know that is kind of a lot but I figure I can splurge every once in a while. I am off work this weekend which is exciting. Can't wait to spend some time with Charles and maybe see the babes. They are three and a half now so I guess they aren't really babes anymore. How depressing. They will probably graduate from college before I do! Ha!

Snakes on a Plane!

This week has not been too bad. So far I have kept up with homework and online discussion groups for school, which is a feat in and of itself. Work has been steadily chugging alone. We have just hired a very cool chick to replace my old partner. I am really looking forward to working with her!

Call me crazy, but I really want to see the movie Snakes on a Plane! Yes, I am extremely scared of flying, but come on! I don't think this movie is going to scare me anymore then Kill Bill did. I think that the entire premise of this movie is so ridiculous that there is no need for concern. I just want to see Sam Jackson say "What are all these MF'ing snakes doing on this MF'ing plane!" No one can deliver a line like Sam Jackson! That’s all for now.

September already?!

Talk Like A Pirate Day is almost here! Be sure to check out this awesome pirate book about Girl Pirates on the High Seas!

I can not believe it is already September!! How is that possible. I swear, this summer just flew right on by. I am settled back into school...which is of course wonderful. I am taking three courses this semester all online. I am taking: Information Sources in the Humanities, Academiv Libraries, and Foundations of Information Technology. I have to say that both Academic Libraries and Information Tech have been incredibly intense. Looks like I will need to spend around 15 hours atleast per week on homework just to keep my head above water. Luckily, I am able to use my lunch break and 15 min breaks at work to get some stuff done. I guess the short end of this is that right now pretty much sucks.

I am really lucky that Charles is out of school and so supportive of me. He is very understanding and is really trying to help me out as much as possible. I am not as pessimistic this year as I was last year. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 3 courses this fall, 3 in the spring, 2 in the summer , then I take my big COMPS exam and I am done!

Things with Squirrel are pretty good. She is now on the first floor with the other kitties. Anna and Squirrel still do not like each other one bit and sometimes they get into it. The bright side is that it is mostly just cursing and name calling. I have yet to see any physical contact between the two nut jobs so I feel like we are making slow progress.

Work is crazy. Lots o stuff to be working on. Sally and I may need to just take a vacation from all things teen by Decemeber!! Its good overall. I'd rather be busy than bored. Not to mention Sally is a great pal and super fun to work with!

Well... I guess that is all for now.

Summer Reading is Over!!

Summer Reading is officially over! Whooo-who! It the strangest thing, at the beginning of the summer I am so excited and looking forward to all of the additional programs & presenters. By about mid July, I am ready to curl up in a ball and cry! This summer has been exceptionally rough. We were short staffed at my branch and I ended up working six days a week two weeks in a row. That is just no good! This week we are finishing up the RFID tagging so we are still busy---but not nearly as busy as it has been.

Things at home are good except the whole Squirrel situation. We had this brilliant idea to have Squirrel seperated out downstairs in the dining room. The hope was that Squirrel would get used to being downstairs again and that being able to sniff noses through the babygates would allow all kitties to re-connect. At first this seemed to work, so we took down the gates and had everyone mingle. After one full day of togetherness, Anna again started stalking Squirrel who again turned into a big scaredy-cat. I swear, this was such a huge let down. So now, I am trying to find Squirrel a new home. This is really stressful and it is breaking my heart to loose Squirrel. I sure hope I can find a nice home for her.

School does not begin until August 23rd, so I am really looking forward to having three more weeks of down time! Thats all for now. Hopefully I will post soon with great news about Squirrel!

Skanky Hanky

Ok--so we are living in the twenty first century here right? What is the deal with the hankerchiff? A tiny piece of fabric that you blow your nose in and then place in your pocket, only to be used later to blow your nose in. This has got to be one of the most disgusting things that people do. Yuck!

My Pirate Personaity Profile

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

Find out your Pirate Personality at:
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/ppi.html

Rock Concert @ The Library

Check out this link!
http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606220428

Trouble in Paradise

So, the anti-anxiety pills for Squirrel are horrible. I have given her two pills now (she takes 1 every 36 hours) and I hate the way they affect her. For probably 24 h0urs after I give her the pill she is like a Zombie. She sleeps most of the time and seems confused when she is awake. I hate this so much. I think that I have to find Squirrel a new home. She is such a sweet cat... incredibly loving. I hate the thought of finding her a new home, but I think I will be ok with it if I know she is going to someone who will take good care of her. She deserves to not have to take anti-anxiety medicine that turns her into a zombie and to feel safe in her own house. She seems ok upstairs, but Anna has taken to sitting at the gate at the bottom and staring at Squirrel. That just seems really strange to me. Poor Squirrel. Well, hopefully we will find a safe, happy, animal loving home for her. I think she would really enjoy being an only cat. Here are some recent pictures of Squirrel. She looks a bit vacant, but that is just the medicine.

Oh the Anxiety!

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. I really need to get better about posting more regularly. A bunch of stuff has been going on. Work is crazy busy, but tons of fun. I love summer reading. You see so many kids in the library checking out book and going to programs. Good Stuff.

Things in the kitty kingdom have gone sour. Squirrel & Anna got into a fight a month or so ago, and now they can not be in the same room with each other. We have kept Squirrel upstairs and Anna downstairs. The attempts to slowly re-introduce them to each other has not worked at all. Our last hope is to get Squirrel some anti-anxiety medicine so that she doesn't growl and hiss every time she sees Anna. I sure hope this works, because if not either Anna is going to live with my mom or Squirrel is going to have to find a new home. The whole situation is very tense. I can not imagine getting rid of any of my kitties. I am just going to think good thoughts and hope this medicine works.

It has been fantastic being out of school. I have so much less stress. Even with the craziness of work, things are much more easy going. I am dreading the thought of going back in August. Although, it is encouraging to think that I could be almost done by this time next year!!

Movie Update: Have seen MI-3 (Totally rocked!) & X-3 (Pretty dang good). Can't wait to see Superman & Nacho Libre. Man, I love summer movies!

Middle Schoolers Rock!

So, I am so psyched today because I have taken a vacation day and am not at work! Don't get me wrong, I love my job but I was sooooo ready for a break. I am not due in back to work until Wednesday of next week.....so awesome!

Chas was supposed to take today off with me so we could go see X-3 first thing, but he could not take the day off. He just got a new job (YEA!) and he is trying to get all of his loose ends tied up before he leaves his old job. Chas, new job is a Quality Assurance Engineer for the Systems department. Pretty dang cool, I think. Keep your eye on that one... he's going places!

The past three weeks have been incredibly busy. Our library has been visiting elementary and middle schools to discuss the summer reading program. The first week was elementary school which was pretty fun. The last two weeks have been elementary school, which has been really fun! Sally and I visited all of the middle schools ourselves and got into a great rhythm! I think that we are going to have awesome attendance this year for the teen summer reading program!

I think I might go see MI-3 by myself today. No one else is off work, GC already saw it and I really want to see that one before X-3. This super fun long weekend has just begun!

Be sure to visit the Vintage Vantage wesbite and checkout their super fly T's:
http://www.vintagevantage.com/

School out for summer!

Well, I am officially out of school for the summer. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to take this summer off, and I can not tell you how excited I am! Spring grades are supposed to be posted tomorrow....I sure hope I passes special libraries. I am nervous because the instructor had not graded 80% of our work in blackboard, so I just hope I pass. If not, that instructor will feel the full wrath of Dawnzilla! That's right. Most of you have met Dawnzilla, and lets just say it aint pretty. I remember a couple of years ago I had 2 professors give me grades that I did not agree with, so I let Dawnzilla do her thing and had both grades changed. Oh yea!

I got to spend the day with Aidan yesteday which was super cool! Avery was invited to a princess tea party (she promised to bring me back a cupcake), so Aidan hung out with me and Chas all day. It was so much fun! We went to the grocery store and drove the racecar shopping cart, got a super rad new monster truck, and made cookies. I am incredibly lucky to be so close the the two coolest twins on the planet! Big shout out to Kita for having created the most awesome kids ever!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Can't wait to see MI-3! Tom Cruise may be a total whack job, but that movie looks freakin awesome!

Miracle Whip!

Some of you have seen this, but I just had to post it!
Every once in a while you get those reference questions that make you take a step back and say to yourself: wow, that person is just a little nuts.

Here is a call that I got this week:

Me: Reference, how may I help you?

Crazy lady: He, he, he. Can you hear my grandson in the background... i'm babysitting today.

Me: Yes, that sounds nice.
Awkward pause....

Me: How may I help you?

Crazy lady: Well, I like Miracle whip. You know, Miracle whip? I really like that stuff.

Me: OK...

Crazy lady: the problem is the miracle whip jar is narrow at the top and so I can never get all of my miracle whip out of the jar. I love miracle whip.

Me: OK...

Crazy lady: I have a 32oz. glass jar that is clear. Totally clear. Clear like glass you know?

Me: Yes, I understand the jar is clear...

Crazy lady: Well, this jar is NOT narrow at the top, so I want to put my miracle whip in this jar so that I can get it all out.

Me: Ok... (wondering how she is going to transfer "all" of the miracle whip from the narrow top jar to the open top jar, but deciding not to mention the obvious problem with this plan.)

Crazy lady: I want you to print me out a label for my clear jar that looks exactly like the miracle whip jar.

Me: Ok, well Miracle whip is trademarked food item, so their copyrighted label is not available for the general public to use on their own containers, so I am not sure that I would be able to do this for you.

Crazy lady: Well, you have the internet dont you?! Can't you just go to kraft's website and print me out a label? I mean it cant be that hard.

Me: I can search Kraft's website for you please hold. (go to kraft, find miracle whip, no label to print out---duh!)

Me: Ok, sorry about your hold. It looks like on the Kraft website you can print out a picture of the miracle whip jar, would you like me to print that for you?

Crazy lady: Is it the miracle whip label?

Me: No ma'am. It is a picture of the Miracle Whip jar, so it looks exactly like the jar that you see when you go to the grocery store. Do you think this will work for you?

Crazy lady: I just want the label!

Me: I understand that, but this is the only thing I can find for you. Would you like me to print this out and you can come and pick it up.

Crazy lady: (a full minute of himming and hawwing) I just want the label. That is not what I want. Just forget about it! (hangs up)

I really think I hate adult reference!! Hope you are all having an exciting, miracle whip free, day! Dawn

The Kitty Revolution!

After my Ode to Sammy, I started to feel bad that I have not posted any pictures of my other cute kitties. After much discussion with Cow, I have decided to post one picture of each kittie to make amends for my oversight.



This is Squirrel(Grey) and Merlin(Orange). Squirrel feel in love with Merlin from the first moment she saw him, luckily Merlin was very laid back. Squirrel is about 5 years old and is the sister of Pumplin. Merlin passed away in January of 2005, so now Squirrel cuddles with us.



This is Annushka, otherwise known as Annabear. We call her Annabear because her fur is so thick that she looks like a little bear cub. Anna is about 4 years old. She is tiny, but incredibly vocal. This cat will scream at you until you give in a pet her. She is best friends with Cowboy, and she can often be seen cuddling with him, or kicking his butt.



This is the infamous Cowboy. He is about 5 years old and is the only boy kittie in a house over run with women! Cow is best friends with Annabear, although he gets tired of constantly getting his butt kicked by a little girl. Cow enjoys chit chatting with his people and following me around the house. Cow seems to be planning some sort of plot against Pumpkin. We fear he may have discovered that the diet food transition is primarily due to her weight problem.




This is Pumkin aka Punkapotimus. She's what you call big boned. She is about 5 years old and enjoys sleeping and eating. Pumpkin does not really like any of the other cats, especially Cow. Due to an increased weight problem for Punky, we have switched the kitties to diet food. Pumpkin is concerned that the other cats may be rallying against her in their fit of rage over the diet food transistion.



This is Sammy. She was best Friends with Charles, but also liked Pumpkin and Cow well enough. Sammy could jump over four feet high straigh up when trying to catch a toy! Sammy passed away in March of 2006, and we all miss her tons.

Ode to Samantha

It has been just over a month since we lost one of our best friends, Sam. This amazingly beautiful weather reminds me of taking Sammy out for her walk. Have you ever seen a cat who likes to take walks on a leash? How about a cat that will play tag with you? Just some of the crazy kitty stuff we miss about our friend Sammy.

Crunch Time

Every once in a while, it seems that the universe will throw everything it possibly can at you just to see how you handle it. This has been a week where the universe intends on driving me to the brink. School is nuts. Getting ready for finals and turning in those big projects is proving to be more than a little bit challenging. I just finished writing 5 papers for my children's lit course in the hopes of being able to opt out of the final. I just found out last night that I have a ginormous project due this Friday that I have not even begun for my special libraries course that is online. My professor for my internet course refuses to check blackboard to see if her students have questions. She truly has a way of making students feel like she just doesn't give a damn! I can not wait to fill out an evaluation for that course.

Work is somewhat crazy. We are trying to gear up for summer reading by setting up school visits. This is probably going to take up almost the entire month of May. Of course the real craziness begins in June, so I need to ready myself for that!

Overall, I feel like a tool complaining. I should be appreciative of the opportunity to go to graduate school. I should thank my lucky stars everyday that I have a job that I love and work with really awesome people. Maybe I'll start an appreciation diary like Oprah. Hey, if Oprah says its a good thing---its a good thing! :)

Random Parenting Questions

After much observation at my local public library as well as the grocery store I would like to ask parents a few questions. Ok parents, ready? Here goes.

1) Why on earth would you allow you toddler to run around a parking lot without holding your hand? Has the pain truly become too much? Are you sort of kind of hoping they get hit by a car?

2) Is there a reason that parents think the library is an appropriate place to simply dump their children? Is the library protected by some super human force field that does not allow child predators in? As a library employee, I would just like to point out that to my knowledge there is no such force field and that perhaps it is not the best idea to leave your young child unattended at the library or any other public space.

3) It is really a good idea to let your children push the shopping cart at the grocery store? Yes , yes they are so adorable when they can not see over the cart and are pushing ever forward. My only concern is that these cute little buggers cannot actually see where they are going and therefor are very likely to run over the elderly lady who is looking at the canned veggies.

Just some random thoughts from someone who does not have children.

Embrace Global Warming...its your friend!

Some say that global warming is dangerous, scary and downright not good for the future of humankind. I on the other hand say global warming rocks! It was 60 degrees and sunny yesterday in the Cincinnati region. 60 degrees and sunny in January! How can anyone say that's a bad thing? Sure, the increased temperature of the ocean may cause the hurricane season to be the reason we abandon the coastline...but with the melting of the polar ice cap, which will result in rising oceans, those coast lines were useless anyway. I for one would like to see the movie, Day After Tomorrow, come true. How awesome would it be to be trapped with both Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid in a situation where you have to huddle together for heat? Hello! Clearly, Global Warming is a fantastic phenomenon that will lead to more sunny days in January and the need to use Jake for warmth.

*Photo by Takashi Seida - © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved

Down with New Years!

New years resolutions are designed to increase your guilt throughout the year. I am certain of this. Everyone gets so excited about the prospect of a new year with all of its inherent possibilities. Lets face it---you are not going to go to the gym three times a week, you are not going to stop smoking, and you will not watch less TV. Being lazy, fat, and self-destructive is what being an American is all about. Perhaps monthly resolutions would work better. I might work out around the summer months when the threat of a swimsuit is quite real, but come December I will most likely sit on my butt the entire month and that’s ok! We don’t have to be perfect all the dang time. I for one am tired of feeling guilty when I fail to maintain a new years resolution! Down with the new years resolution. Boo! Boo! I am working on a catchy theme song for this topic… more later