anniemiz

St. John's Light on Main

St. John's Episcocal Church is located at 226 Cornelia St. in Boonton.  A few months ago they opened up a storefront at 506 Main St. in Boonton, just a few blocks away from where I work.  It's a community outreach kind of thing called St. John's Light on Main.  This picture is from their grand opening and came from their website.

 

I don't know the people although the woman 2nd from the right in the light blue shirt is The Rev. Laurie Wurm, St. John's Rector.  We've been to a couple of their fundraising dinners (which have been delicious!) and she's said a few words there.  The guy on the left in the back with the black shirt on has also been working the dinners and he's always so happy and smiling, just like in this picture.  Good for him!

There was something about the name that struck me as a little different, but I couldn't put my finger on it until Kevin pointed out that the name -- St. John's Light -- sounds like a light beer.  (Now 20% more fulfilling!)  I could certainly see their logo on a beer can or bottle:

 

I stopped in on my walk home from work today, just to check out the joint.  I had traded emails with Rev. Wurm to get info on the after school homework help and internet access that I'd read they offer.  I figured it'd be a good resource to know about for some of our younger patrons.  Tonight I went to check out the place itself.

It's a very cheerful looking place and seems very welcoming.  Longtime readers will recall that I'm not religious, although I have been known to frequent fundraising dinners of religious institutions.  I'm aware of the kind of good works in which most of the local houses of worship are involved, so I'm happy for my measly $10/dinner ticket to go to support those works.  Yes, yes, I suppose that, in a way, the money also supports the continuation of the religion itself.  I'm unsure if that's a good, bad, indifferent or mixed thing.  Religion, that is.  But that's a pretty big question, one I won't address here.

What I will say is that when I think of the good that's done in the name of/as a way of living one's religion, I think of some of the kinds of stuff that St. John's does: the homework help; the free cyber cafe; the free books; first Friday kids' movie nights; third Friday Family Fun nights; career coaching; food pantry; lunches for people in need; etc.  This line from their About Us page sums up what I like about their approach:

The way we treat one another says more about our beliefs than what we say.

Click on the above links for more info about St. John's in Boonton.

Mmm Mmm Monday: Preparations Begin

Home sick today with a cold/flu/whatever (I never remember what the difference is).  Today we'll talk strategy.  Kevin now knows that he's been entered into the town's Chili Cook-Off next month.  He took it rather well and when I noted as much he said he was surprised I hadn't entered him earlier.  Well, I had thought of it, but was held back by all that nonsense about him being his own agent, me having no right to commit him to something w/o his knowledge and consent, he might have important and valid reasons for not entering himself in the past, etc. etc.  In other words, morality got in the way yet again, gamely assisted, as is often the case, by overthinking the issue.  Well, what's done is done; we must move forward in common cause.

The cook-off is on Saturday, October 24, beginning at 5:30 p.m., a mere 40 days away.  This affords him several weekends during which to practice his chili.  He doesn't make his chili often.  It's not a go-to meal and it's not something you whip up.  In fact, I can't remember the last time he made it.  Probably over last winter.  He'll make it a few times before the cook-off.  I'm sure I won't forget the next few weeks of chili-mania.

He made a double batch on Saturday.  As noted in the rules & regulations, entrants must provide a minimum of 3 half-size chafing dishes.  That will probably mean a triple batch for Kevin's recipe.  Chili, like so many soups and stews, are best no sooner than the day after they're made.  My take on this first batch is influenced, no doubt, by having a cold/flu/whatever, but here goes:

• nice heat level -- not too strong so as to blow out your nasal passages, not so wimpy as to be unnoticeable

• nice balance between meat and beans

• nice color

• could have a little more moisture to it for visual appeal, although this won't be problematic for the contest bc you get these Dixie cup type portions that don't allow a panoramic view of the chili

• interacted well with tortilla chips

• interacted fairly well with the cheese; I think the cheese might have been a bit wimpy for chili, but that's not the chili's problem; again, prolly not an issue for the contest bc you don't get enough chili to mix in much cheese, chips, cornbread, etc.

• I think it's missing a flavor independent of the heat-producing ingredients.  I'm not sure what I mean here.  Hmmmm, let me think on this.  No, I most definitely don't know what I'm talking about here, but that's never stopped me before.  Maybe it could use a heartier and/or more flavorful base.  Maybe it could use a little sweet to party with the heat.

• Visually,  I like the look of discrete red kidney beans against the meaty background.  I know some chili and bean dishes remove some of the beans during cooking, mash them and then add them back in.  This changes the consistency of the dish.  It also makes some of the beans not so discrete.  I don't know that that would add or detract anything from this recipe; it's a variable to consider, though.

This batch will get some additional feedback from my co-workers.  Co-worker Laura (she of the Thursday Thrift appearance) came by to pick it up a couple of hours ago.  Another co-worker, Joe, just finished his MLIS degree and the staff is having a little celebration (any excuse for Stephanie to make punch).  Kevin made the double batch with the idea that I would bring some in to work today to feed the revelers and get feedback, but I was sick so Laura very kindly came to pick it up.  In the meantime, I will research ways and means to add a flavor, that certain je ne sais quoi, to the chili w/o losing or detracting from the essential chili-ness of the chili.  You understand.

 

Sneaky

Heh.  Kevin doesn't know it yet, but he and his chili have been entered into theBoonton Parks and Recreation 4th annual Chili Cook-Off.  Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging

Blogging's been kind of light and lowfat lately, what with me working on a paper and, by extension, my freaking problems.  Well, maybe not lowfat, what with some of those recipes.  And there will be more!  Not all mine, of course.  Kevin made a deliceux dinner the other day: mediterranean chicken in puff pastry with new potatoes and green beans.  I took pictures of him making it, but forgot to take pictures of the finished product.  I'll take pictures of the finished product next time he makes it, which can't be too long bc he has extra pastry in the freezer (yes, he made the pastry himself!), and I'll post the whole thing, recipe and pictures, then.

This was one of his meals for our third Saturday dinner thing.  He got some of the ingredients from the farmers' market that morning.  There's a farmers' market in town on Saturdays during the summer and fall.  Everything he got there was so fresh and tasty!  The potatoes, the beans and the strawberries for the strawberry shortcake (I made that, but again I forgot to take pictures of the finished cake!).  There's such a difference between fresh from the garden and store-bought.  Having that farmers' market is such a delight.

It makes me want to plant a vegetable garden!  But I have to be realistic: right now, there are zero flowers in front.  I usually plant annuals, but this year so far there's nada out there.  I think I'll take a page from my neighbor's book and plant perennials.  Actually, I might take some cuttings from her yard and plant them in the fall. I picked out some red carpet tulips to plant in the fall, but what to do when the tulips are past and the stalks are died back?  Perhaps I should intersperse a few later blooming plants among the tulips so that it doesn't look so bare when the tulips are gone.  I'll have to consult Sandy next door.  I also have an empty area under a tree in the front yard.  I usually put annuals there, too.  She also has a front yard tree and has some kind of lush leafy perennial there.  I think I'll have to get some of that, too.  The annual flowers don't grow well under the tree anyway; they're never quite as nice as the ones along the walk that get more sun.  Funny, the two neighbors that have lived in that house while we've been here have been great gardeners.

The other thing about having a vegetable garden here is that it's 99.9999% guaranteed to be eaten by critters such as skunks, possums, raccoons, groundhogs and whatever else lurks around out there in the backyard.  I'd need a fence: tall enough to discourage jumpers/climbers and dug deep enough to discourage diggers. 

So anyway I just emailed the guy a draft of the first section (no, not the one paragraph introduction, sillies) of the paper.  I hope it doesn't suck.  That's the spirit, innit?  The next section will be on Lewis's criticisms of universals and I'll start on that on Friday.  Actually, I have a draft of it, but it's, shall we say, very colloquially written ('universals stink more than Lewis originally thought').  I once took a very helpful business writing seminar at which they offered one especially important piece of advice: Just start writing.  Write and don't go back to edit anything.  Ignore typos, redundancies, poor word choice, grammar, structure...just get the stuff you want to say down.  Go back later and edit.  I find that very helpful, although it's so tempting to stop and fix things, mull over word choice, etc..  Do I always do it?  Noooo, but it really is good advice, honest!

Today I visit dear old Mom.  I try to see her on a regular schedule of every other Thursday, although that doesn't always work out.  Kevin took a day off recently and we went out to Amish country, PA to pick up a glider and ottoman brother Greg et al and we ordered for Mom.  Today I'll drive it up to Mom's, unless the weather is very bad.  It's in the back of Kevin's truck, which is open.  It's wrapped in blankets and plastic, but it's not waterproof and I don't want to drive up if it's going to get soaked through.  If that's the case, I'll just drive up in my car and bring the chair and ottoman another time.  Although maybe I could fit the ottoman in my car.  I drove the truck out to PA the other day bc I'd never driven it before and I wanted to have some experience driving it before doing so alone today.  He's had it for maybe not quite a year, but I've never had occasion to drive it.  It was a little odd driving a big truck after driving my little car, but I felt pretty at ease with it.

She usually has somewhere(s) she wants to go and, bc she doesn't drive (never learned), she saves that for when I visit.  Now, she does get rides from others, but she doesn't like to burden them (surprise, surprise) so she saves non-essential trips for me and gets rides to the doctor and other appointments from my brothers.  I'm not sure how she's going to do with the truck.  I'm bringing a small step so I can get in the back of the truck to unload the chair.  She could use that to get in the truck (bc it's kind of high) so we can go wherever she wants to go.  I'll see if she's comfortable with that.  Otherwise, it will have to wait until next time.  If nothing else, there's always cleaning I can do while I'm there.  I reckon tomorrow I'll finish the kitchen counters and cupboards and maintain what I cleaned last time.

Uh oh!  Miles is taking off with a flash drive that has my paper on it!  Nothing is safe around that cat.  Kevin bought two large tomatoes from the market and put them on the counter only to find tooth marks all around both of them later on.  Miles loves to carry stuff around in his mouth.  Apparently, those tomatoes proved too big for him, but, based on the number of tooth marks, he tried for a good long time to drag them off, play with them and then lose them under furniture only to be discovered when we notice a trail of ants going to and from the offending decaying vegetation.

Just as a side note, I typically publish posts in the morning even though I may write them another day at another time.  E.g., I'm writing this Wednesday evening (technically, very early Thursday morning).  I stick with the morning publishing time so that it's predictable for regular readers; if there's nothing posted by 9:00 AM, there probably won't be anything posted that day.  I don't know what made me think to write that, but there it is.  Oh!  I think it was bc I'd caught myself making a few mistakes that wouldn't be mistakes except for the fact that I post later than when I type.

Speaking of cats, tomorrow's cat blogging will be on Edison and Clomicalm, the wonderful wonder drug that stopped his inappropriate urination (i.e., peeing all over the house).

Still speaking of cats, poor Nosey is locked in the bathroom. We need to do this periodically to get a urine sample out of him to test his sugar: we leave him in there w/an almost empty litter box.  That ways we know for sure that it's his urine in there.  We also test it for blood and ph.  He's had a tiny bit o' blood in his urine for a while now.  One specialist said it's nothing to worry about, it's such a small amount.  IIUC, it's not uncommon for dogs to have a little blood in their urine.  We're not real comfortable just letting it be; we're trying to figure out what Nosey's freaking problem is that's causing even this small bit o' blood in his urine.  The test strip we use to test for sugar also tests for blood, ph and a bunch of other things.  He's had an x-ray recently that didn't show any stones.  He'll probably go in for an ultrasound next.  Fortunately, he does not appear to have any pain around urination.

Sometimes it seems like a cat clinic around here.  Right now we have three cats on medication.  Edison gets his daily life-saving Clomicalm (so called bc I was going to kill someone or something if he didn't stop peeing everywhere).  Nosey gets insulin 2x/day and a vitamin B shot 1x/week.  Dolly gets methimazole every day, budesonide every day, chlorambucil every third day and a vitamin B shot 3x/week.  Sometimes I think I should be a vet tech.  Oy.

Misc.

Poor Kevin's all sick with a bad cold.  He was home from work Friday and he hasn't improved.  Fortunately, he's been able to relax and rest.  He's enjoying playoff football.   In about an hour his beloved Giants will take on the Cowboys.  The Giants have been playing very well their last couple of games.  Someone's spiked their morning orange juice.  The Cowboys have been playing very poorly.  I hope their respective trends continue.

Unfortunately, he was too ill to attend a delicious fundraising dinner on Friday night.  It was hosted by the local lodge of American Sokol.  From their website:

Well into it's second century, American Sokol remains an organization dedicated to the physical, mental, and cultural advancement of its members, the youth and adults that attend its programs and the local communities we serve.

Sokol was founded on the philosophy that only physically fit, mentally alert, and cuturally well developed citizens can make a nation strong and give life to the honorable spirit of patriotism.

There are currently 44 Sokol units, or clubs, open in North America. Please visit our website or contact us by phone to find the club that is closest to you.

Hmm.  Funky formatting.

Only 44 Sokol clubs in North America...and one is in Boonton!  How lucky is that?  Well, it's not as lucky as we used to be bc there used to be 2(!) Sokol clubs in town.  And they were just a couple of blocks away from each other.  The 2nd one was a lodge of Slovak Catholic Sokol, another national organization of Sokol lodges.  They left; their lodge is now the town's rec center.  That rec center could be the subject of a whole 'nuther post.

Back to the food: it was choice, I tell ya, choice!  Chicken paprikash over egg noodles.  Galumpki.  Pierogies.  Kielbasa.  Some thing with pork and sauerkraut and onions.  It was all exceedingly tasty.  The desserts were not, AFAIK, especially traditional, although there was something like a nut roll there.  It was cakey as opposed to bready and I prefer my nut rolls bready.  Clearly, the main meal was the main attraction.  Fortunately, they offered a take out option so Kevin could have some.

It appeared to be the event in town; the place was full and they eventually stopped selling tickets bc they were running out of food.  I went with some co-workers and their peeps.  There are quite a few people of Polish/Slovak descent on staff.  Well, there are quite a few people of Polish/Slovak descent in town.  I understand that, back in the day, the hills part of town was the Polish section and the flats (where we live) was the Italian section.  Now there are lots more ethnicities, but there remain a lot of Polish/Slovak/Italian families.  Also, as a friend who grew up in Lincoln Park (next to Boonton) and attended Boonton High School (Lincoln Park kids attend BHS) said to me when we were considering moving here: people in Boonton grow up, marry each other, stay in Boonton and raise their kids in Boonton.  Of course, that's not entirely true, but there are a lot of old, extended families here.  Kevin and I have been here since 1995.  We joke that we could stay here another 50 years and we'd still be newcomers.  That we don't have kids will probably serve to keep us from fully entering into the bloodlines here.

I don't mean to suggest that we're treated as newcomers or outsiders; not at all.  In fact, quite the opposite.  It was lovely to run into friends, neighbors, countrymen at the dinner.  But there are people, like some of my co-workers, whose families have lived in Boonton for generations on end.  It's neat to hear about Boonton of old.  It's fun when Kevin and I can tell newer residents about Boonton before their arrival, as if we're the old timers.  Perhaps bc I work at the town library, I get to talk with and know a lot of residents, so I hear a lot of good stuff there.

The community room at the library is set to open tomorrow.  It's a room in the lurvely (not really) library basement with more public puters (and accessories).  For several set periods during the week, the room will be set aside for kids.  There is a great need in Boonton for inexpensive/free after school activities for kids.  The rec center mentioned above offers programs, but, except for a homework help program, they all cost money.  And a lot of town families cannot afford these programs, especially when they have more than one kid.  They also cannot afford after school child care.  Some parents tell their kids to go to the library until dinnertime, when the parents will be home.  Some kids just want to go to the library after school to play games on the computers.  Bottom line, there are a lot of factors contributing to a huge (huge compared to the size of the library, which is approximately the size of the first floor of my house) and overwhelming (when you consider the resources such a small library can offer) influx of kids at the library after school.

Kids being kids, they tend to do things in large, noisy, physical groups.  So for several hours after each school day, there are a mess of noisy kids that perhaps don't take over the entire library, but it's pretty close.  Bc the library is so small, it's impossible to find a quiet place during the after school hours.

So the library is trying to deal with this issue by creating the community room.  Some feel that the library shouldn't have to step up in this way just bc the town doesn't offer after school programs for low income families.  The reality is that the library has to do something.

When it's not kid time in the community room, it's available for adult patrons to use.  When it is kid time, there must be a staff person there bc the kids will, innocently or not so innocently, get into trouble down there on their own.  Tomorrow is the first day the community room will be open and I have the honor of being the first staffperson to work down there.

I am very pleased by the community room.  I'm a firm believer in the idea of libraries as being mental sanctuaries.  Sure, if the resources are there, offer an area where kids can be noisy and active and kid-like.  As it was, the after school crowd pretty much drove other patrons away from the library.  Is it fair to the kids that the library (pre-community room) didn't have space for them to be nuts?  Probably not.  As a 7 year old once told a 5 year old friend, 'Life isn't always fair'.  I think I was in the minority of people who believed that the pre-community room library should not be allowed to be crazy for a while during the after school hours.   Of course, the kids would have to be allowed some level of noise and activity bc they're kids and they have the attention span and diligence of gnats when it comes to expectations that they don't particularly value.  I thought they could use the computers and be somewhat loud and active and any adult patrons would just have to deal with it during those hours.  A compromise.  Sure, ideally, there'd be a place for kids to be kid-like, but since we didn't have it at the time, I didn't see why a compromise between semi-kid-like behavior and semi-library-as-sanctuary couldn't be achieved.

I have more to say on that, but I'm not going to get into it here.  Long-time readers could probably predict exactly what kind of curmudgeonly things I would have to say.

There are other things I've wanted to blog about, but I've been a little busy.  And now I'm off to the grocery store.  Kevin usually goes, but he's in no shape for it.  Normally, he'd go when he feels better, but it doesn't appear he'll feel better very soon.  Plus, we're supposed to get a bunch of snow here tonight and tomorrow.  Not that I'm going to stock up on milk, bread, eggs, etc.  That cracks me up when there's no milk at the store bc people are stocking up on in advance of an onslaught of inches of snow.  Okay, if you have infants or elderly or sick people, i.e, people with very specific nutritional needs, it makes sense to make sure you have, oh, say, enough jars of baby food on hand.  Wait a minute.  Nosey has very specific nutritional needs in that he only eats stage 1 chicken baby food.  I'm going to clear that shelf if it's the last thing I do!

Update Shmupdate

Oh, peopoe, peopoe, peopoe, I haven't really been into/had time for blogging lately.  I feel much better now that my high bp's been addressed.  I was 115/75 at my week-later checkup.  I return in 3 months for another checkup.  Amazing what one little pill a day can do.  I asked the doctor about what else to do and he said lose weight and watch the salt.  The latter's not too hard.  I like a little added salt, but I came late in life to liking added salt, so I can go back to not adding it.  The former is the toughie.  I've been watching what I eat since my diagnosis -- nothing like the threat of stroke to get one's attention (or simply the threat of those narsty headaches returning; again, it makes one wonder what do people with greater, chronic pain do?  Do they not want to off themselves?) -- and been successful so far, but the challenge is long-term success, once the shock and awe of high bp has worn off.  One thought I've found helpful is the idea that if I'm not hungry enough to eat an apple, preferably a crunchy red delicious (photo courtesy of and (c) by NY Apple Association), I'm not hungry enough to eat anything (i.e., fries, ice cream, even a second helping of something healthy).  I meant to pick up actual apples at the store yesterday, to put some bite (so to speak) into the idea, but I forgot.  In its practical stead, I use rice cakes.  Granted, they're caramel corn rice cakes which have a little sweetness to them, but they're not scrumptious like cookies and cream ice cream, my current nemesis.

The cats are doing well, for the most part.  We're currently working on figuring out what Dolly's problem is.  Symptomatically, it points to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  The drug of choice is prednisone, which she received orally for a while, but which she also vomited up within 10 minutes of taking it (even with prepping her with pepcid and/or food).  So we're going to try and get us some transdermal prednisone to apply to her ears.  That will bypass her stomach.  We hope to see a reduction in vomiting and diarrhea and increased weight.  It could also be pancreatic insufficiency -- those test values were elevated, further suggesting that that's the problem -- but the vets lean toward IBD, based on her overall presentation.

A definitive diagnosis would require an endoscopy, but we've decided to just go w/the prednisone for a couple of reasons.  (a) If it is IBD, we're doing the right thing.  (b) An endoscopy would be another several hundred dollars, maybe close to $1,000, and we've had an expensive 1+ years or so what with Nosey's IBD and diabetes and Smudgie's head case.  Of course, if it's not IBD, we've wasted time.  It's possible that she has lymphoma, like her late littermate, Archie, but I tend to think not bc she's had this problem for some time now.  I think it would have progressed to lymphoma and she'd have been dead by now if it were lymphoma.  But, as Dr. Slade mentioned recently, the surprise diagnoses we've received lately teach us not to get cocky.

The others are  doing well.  Smudgie's eye is looking better.  He'll be on an anti-fungal pill for a while, probably months.  Sounds like getting rid of a fungus is a long-term endeavor.  His right eye hasn't returned to its former beauty, but it looks much better.  He has some kind of grey area on the right eye.  Don't know what that's from.  Also don't know how affected his vision is.  Even if he has lost some/all vision in that eye.  cats do phenomenally well with reduced or absent vision.  He'll be fine.  The important thing is that he no longer has a portabella thriving in his head.

Oh, man, the thing about hungry-enought-to-eat-an-apple thing is that if I am hungry enough to eat an apple, I'm usually hungry enough to gnaw off my arm.  Okay, where are those stupid rice cakes?  Nom nom nom.  And only one point each!

Wrt school:  :(  I did not have enough money to pay for school this semester, so the director kindly agreed that I could start next semester.  (I know what you're thinking: spend less money on cats and you'd have enough to pay for school.  Answer: not an option.  I'll give up pretty much anything else before I give up their medical care.  E.g., I've obviously given up fashion bc (a) I have no sense of fashion to begin with and (b) it's not as important.  That I only have a few outfits I can wear to work is less important than that I have healthy cats.  Anyway....)  I have to figure out something so that I can consistently pay for school each semester; otherwise, it will take me eons to finish with a one-class-one-semester-on/no-class-one-semester-off approach.  And I'm no spring chicken as it is.  Not that I'm ancient -- and they do say 40 is the new 20 -- but still: my time here isn't unlimited.  Plus, I'd like to graduate before I die of stroke.  So, with that positive attitude, I am thinking ever so hard about my options on this absolutely gorgeous Labor Day weekend.  Details on the decision will be forthcoming once a decision has been made.

Changes are ahead, nay, already afoot, although I am making sure to enjoy this lovely weekend.  This weekend is the town's annual Firemens' Labor Day Celebration.  Gawd, do they love their Fire Department here.  It's pretty much the social organization in town.  But hey, I love a a parade and yesterday was a great day for a parade.  We'll go to the carnival and fireworks tonight.  Now that we've cut down a few trees in the backyard, we could watch the fireworks from home, but we like to go to the carnival.  It's small and very little changes from year to year, but that serves to make it comfortingly (word?) traditional: you can count on it to be there every year.  For us, it's especially nice bc we can tote our chairs to the parade and to the fireworks.  We just leave our chairs and/or blanket or whatever, go enjoy the carnival and then come back to find them safe and sound for parking our butts to watch the fireworks.

Bonus goodness this weekend: we're catsitting our friend Carol's cats, Tigger and Choco.  I have pictures to prove it so they'll be guest cats for Friday Cat Blogging later this week.

Kevin's been working hard all day, weeding and mulching.  Perhaps it's time I go and be  productive as well.  Or perhaps not.  Or maybe just look productive.  But my work here is done for now.  Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Only Snow Can Make It Rain

Och.  The library closed early this past Saturday and is still closed.  The boiler busted sometime during the night so there was no heat.  This came within a week of snow on the roof melting and literally pouring into the childrens' room.  We were closed a few days for Presidents' Day weekend.  Dot happened to go in on Monday to take care of some things and found the flooding.  The damage would have been worse if no one had gone in until Tuesday.  And that came just a few weeks after new carpeting was installed in the childrens' room.  The library should reopen sometime tomorrow, if all goes well.

Lesley, the former childrens' librarian ('Mrs. K'), became the library's Director shortly after the new year (our previous Director is now at another public library nearby).  What an initiation into the job!

The library is organized rather funkily.  From that link:

• 'a leading citizen named James Holmes, willed his house and a sum of money to the people of Boonton upon his death in 1893 for the establishment of' the library (hence the name, Boonton Holmes Public Library)
• 'Rentals of the rest of the building were planned as a financing source for the library needs.'
• ' despite the rentals, as an association library, funds remained scarce. The library survived over the years through membership fees, fund drives, donations, and contributions from the Town of Boonton.'
• 'A successful municipalization campaign in 1993 wrought the greatest change in the library history, structure, and operations since 1894. Ownership of the building was retained by the Holmes Association after municipalization in 1993, and the main and basement floor rented to the Boonton Holmes Public Library. '

So, IIUC (and nobody quote me on this), the library Association owns the property.  I believe they also retain ownership of any funds derived from the original funding, plus money received in the form of rental payments from the library and the three apartments upstairs.  Now,the Association was originally and remains composed of around 7 town churches.  I think the idea at the time (back in the 1890s) was that town leaders would guide the library, and the town leaders at that time were clergymen. 

The library cum library is separate from the Association.  The library Itself has a Board of Trustees separate from the Association.  Library staff are state civil servants.

It's a rather odd arrangement bc it leaves the library Itself and Board and the library Association in a tenant-landlord relationship, but with a few weird twists added to the relationship.  I don't believe that the town clergy are actually involved with the library these days, but the arrangement is a relic of religion's past influence and should be eliminated.

Now, here's my $0.03 wrt the arrangement: I think it stinks.  Disclaimers:

• I work at the library.  I make a whopping $11/hour and work approximately 15 hours/week.  My paycheck from the library isn't what keeps food on the table and floor for Kevin, me and the kitties, i.e., it's not crucial to our subsistence, but I must admit that I like getting paid for my work.
• My opinions are my own and do not in any way express the opinions of any library staffperson, patron, trustee or any other library-related person.
• I love libraries.  I always have.  How well I remember regularly walking to the library with a big bag of books to return and leaving with another big bag of books.  I took out whatever books I wanted.  No one ever asked, 'Should you be reading that?' or 'Why do you want to read about that?' or 'What a silly book, such a waste of time!'  Even now, it seems remarkable that a child should have such freedom: to read whatever I wanted.
• I've opined here before about my disappointment that a non-binding referendum supporting construction of a new library was voted down by town alderpeople.  I understand opponents' points, but the bottom line is that the town library is still housed in the first floor and basement of a building built in, I believe, approximately 1850 and that has not been sufficiently modernized.  Examples: The one bathroom cannot fit a wheelchair through the door.  A person using a walker could probably fit the walker through - sideways, which probably isn't optimal for anyone using a walker.  Many of the stacks cannot be accessed by anyone in a wheelchair or using a walker/stroller.  To access the basement, one must go down either skinny, circular internal stairs or iffy concrete external steps.

So.  Why does it stink?  Well, think about what it'd be like to rent an apartment in an old building.  It could be great: a modernized building that still retains the good looks and charm of an old building.  Or it could stink: an old building, lacking in modernization, with patchwork fixes and changes that blur the good looks and charm of the original building.  IMO, the second example is the library Itself's current position.  There is almost always tension between a tenant and landlord's respective interests.  Each wants and expects certain things from the arrangement, without giving up too much.  I'm not sure the current arrangement is in the best interests of a public library.  I honestly do not know all the particulars between the library Association and Itself/Trustees, but I have the distinct impression that the two sides do not always work well together.  Of course, I may be quite wrong about that.

Once in a very great while, Kevin and I talk ever so briefly about rental income, i.e., buying a rental property.  But that's a big responsibility.  Besides the legal responsibility, there's the self-imposed responsibility to provide housing that, at a minimum, I would rent.  To be sure, there are worse rental properties than the current library building, but there are also certainly better.  I would be thoroughly embarrassed to be the owner of a building that hadn't had its gutters cleared in who knows how many years (part of the reason so much water came in from the melted snow), that was missing gutters and downspouts, that had a damaged roof with one corner peeled back several yards, with a furnace that, AFAIK, was not on a maintenance schedule, etc.  If Kevin and I don't call Georgie the plumber to do a yearly check of the furnace, flush the system, etc. (or do it ourselves), we only inconvenience ourselves when the thing doesn't work.  Well, sure, it'll be cold, but we only screw ourselves and we only have ourselves to blame.  I wouldn't feel at all comfortable about others losing heat in wintertime bco my actions or lack thereof.  As it is, we have our hands full trying to maintain our own home, I can't imagine taking on the responsibility for someone else's home right now.

So.  I wonder if a tenant-landlord relationship that doesn't have enough of the crucial interests in common is really the best setup for either party.  With a residential arrangement, it's pretty clear what each party typically wants.  The residential tenant likely wants a clean home; dependable, functional facilities; a dependable heating (and possibly cooling) system; reasonable security measures; fair and reasonable rental payments and increases; etc.  With a business arrangement, the expectations are probably more complicated.  The business tenant might want larger electrical capacity than the residential tenant.  Tenants in a strip mall might expect the landlord to lease a dumpster and contract garbage removal services.  In either case, the landlord ideally wants to make a profit; avoid costly and unncessary expenses; stay within the myriad codes applicable to rental properties; retain good tenants; etc.

There usually isn't an investment by the landlord in the tenant's purpose, i.e., the strip mall would like his tenants to be successful so they remain tenants (thereby saving the landlord the effort and expense of finding new tenants), but the landlord most likely doesn't share in the small business owner's dream and vision.  And so I would not expect a landlord to be nearly as enthused about a library tenant's mission statement.  They might be, but I imagine they more likely would not be.  Perhaps James Holmes might have been such an enthused person, but he left his home to house a library upon his death, not during his lifetime.

And that, dear readers, is it for now.

Living On The Edge

Recently, I've taken to studying at the library.  Of all places!  Thing is, I work at the town library, so I was hesitant to study here bc, well, bco a few reasons.

First, if I study here, patrons might recognize me and interrupt me bc they don't realize that I'm not working at the time (I certainly don't expect them to know that I'm studying, not working).

Second, if I study here, even though I'm not working, I find it difficult to ignore certain stuff.  E.g., the after school hours are particularly busy bc kids come in to use the public pcs to do their homework.  Unacceptable behavior, foul language and the like are not unusual.  So I'd feel like I should do something about it, like I would if I were working.  Plus, if sometimes I do something (bc I'm working) and sometimes I don't (bc I'm not working), to them it will seem inconsistent and send the dreaded mixed message.

Third, it's a very small library and it really doesn't have any quiet nooks.  I've taken to camping out at Ruth's desk in the local history room in the basement.  Hardly anyone comes here.  It is quieter than upstairs, although people do use the public pc in the reference room next door.  It's also an old building so I hear people tramping across the floor upstairs; in fact, someones running from the back to the front right now.  It is more comfortable down here, though; at home, I don't have a very good desk setup: basically, it's a dining room table currently not used in the dining room and a folding chair.

The big problem is that I get very distracted at home, so it's good for me to study elsewhere.  At home, I might think, 'Oh, I'll just do a little laundry while I'm reading'.  Doesn't sound like much, but time taken away to 'just do this' or 'just do that' adds up.  It also breaks my concentration and then I have to get back into it.  There are other distractions, e.g., I should go see who's sneezing or yakking or fighting or whatever, the Mormoms are at the door, answering the phone, etc.

It's raining and yucky outside today, so I parked close by, at a two-hour meter.  They check the meters until 5 PM.  My time runs out at about 4:30 PM.  I've already fed the meter once (I don't think you're supposed to do that) and I don't feel like going out and getting soaked again.  I'm hoping the yucky weather deters the parking people from being very conscientious and that I don't get a parking ticket bc I didn't feel like getting wet.  I have a parking thingie to park in certain spaces for free, but I think that might be only for when you're actually working.  Of course, who would know/notice?  Those spots are a little further away.  Normally, I park a little further away to squeeze a walk (a very little exercise) into my day, but today I just didn't feel like dealing with the rain.

Speaking of Mormoms - why can I not spell that word correctly? - Mormons, I had the most interesting conversation with a patron last night.  She and her family lived in Utah for about six years or so and learned a lot about the Church of LDS and some about the FLDS.  A couple of young men would stop by the house for a while there, wanting to talk about their religion (LDS).  I was interested in reading their stuff, but they balked at just handing it over without having a real sitdown about it.  And I didn't want to do that.  All I really know about Mormonism is whatever's available in the popular press and maybe a few things others have told me.

Anyway, this patron told me all kinds of incredible stuff!  So much stuff that I'll probably screw it all up here, but here goes.  E.g., there are levels to heaven and if you're really, really, really, really, really good in this life and reach the tippy top level when you die - and are a man, natch - you get your own planet to rule!  Kewl.

Some folks were converting non-Mormons and then marrying them off posthumously.  Yes, after people were dead.  Conversion and evangelizing (sp?) are, obviously, encouraged.  The thinking about the dead people is that those poor folks shouldn't be denied the glory of heaven bc they did not have the chance to become Mormons.  So, if you have a deceased relative, you could still convert them.  And then marry them off to some other dead person.  Technically, you could do this with any deceased person, not only relatives, but it's considered better to bring one of your own into the fold.  Not so kewl.

Apparently, this practice caused a big stink when some Mormons starting converting and marrying off deceased Jewish Holocaust victims.  People who were not relations, people they didn't even know.  This did not sit well with others, especially Jews, Holocaust survivors, freedom of religion types, etc.  I don't know how a dead person consents to conversion or marriage.  I guess a person's soul could accept or decline either, although if you're marrying off dead people bc you think you've got a couple of Mormons paired up, you don't really know that the bride or groom agreed to conversion.  This site, apparently from people who know a thing or two about the LDS, talks a little bit about how the conversion is supposed to work.

Wrt the FLDS, I expressed a distinct lack of desire to (if I were a man) support numerous wives and children.  Supposedly, that's not of practical concern bc usually the man and maybe one woman works and they rely on public support to make ends meet and support everyone.  Other tidbits: non-approved materials are banned, e.g., most books, the internet, most tv shows, most radio stations, etc.  Girls, as we've all heard wrt the Warren Jeffs business, are married off extremely young.  The idea is to have as many babies as you possibly can.  Babies are breast fed no more than three months, so the mother is more likely to get pregnant sooner.  Jeffs pulled all the children out of the public school system.  I believe they're all homeschooled now.  I think homeschooling can be a great option, but I'm not confident that these kids are getting a good education.  Then there's all the adolescent and young men who get kicked out.  And the older, married men who get kicked out and their wives and children reassigned to other men.  Yuck.

Both the LDS and FLDS sound very complicated.  I could see how either might be attractive to someone who could benefit from some structure in their life.  Or who craves community and a sense of belonging.  Or who doesn't know what else to do or where else to turn.  Or who needs non-spiritual help, they get it from these folks and then stay with them.  You know, I have a hard enough time keeping track of five cats and one husband and their needs and desires; I wouldn't have the energy or interest to take on all the rigmarole, activities, commitments, obligations, etc. that come with belonging to either religion.

Enough about all that; back to Shaffer.

Eh

I haven't felt much like blogging lately.  Don't really know why.  I was feeling kinda blue lately bco no grad school funding; maybe it was a delayed reaction to things not working out this year.  I did think I was handling the disappointment almost too well.  So maybe that's why I haven't been into blogging.  Let's see...what's going on here of late?

Kevin's off next week.  We were supposed to go to Big Moose Inn, but they're not open for the season until the following week.  Their website accidentally allowed us to make reservations for when they're still closed for winter.  They apologized ten times over and will make nice for us if and when we do go there.  We'll prolly go there in maybe late spring or sometime during the summer.  They did tell us when they expect to be crazy bco the 100th anniversary of Grace Brown's murder on the lake there, so we'll avoid those times.  We're seeking peace and quiet.  Next week, then, will be a quiet week with Kevin at home; maybe take a day trip here or there.

My young-at-heart buddy, Mrs. S, turns 105 next week!  I'm looking forward to seeing her on her birthday.

Wrt grad school, a plan is in place to make the most of the time before the application rigmarole starts anew.  In addition to what I mentioned before:

• I'll prolly take one, maybe two, courses at one of the programs which accepted me, but did not come through with funding.
• I might do an independent study with someone...just have to find a willing person and a topic agreeable to both of us.  If I do this, I'll prolly just take one course in the above bulletpoint.
• Review and prolly revise the list of places to which I apply.

Our Socrates Cafe at work started up last week, but, alas, no one came. :(  Actually, Kevin came, but I guess he doesn't really count, since he came more for moral support.  And Lisa, a reporter for the very local newspaper, came to check it out and do a write up of it.  She covers our town and has been to previous library events.  Since there were no talkers last week, she did an interview; perhaps that will draw some interest.

I've learned that I need to be clearer about what we'll do at the Cafe.  In publicity and staff communications, I made it a point to stress that it's not a class; there's no homework; no required reading; no prior exposure to philosophy required; etc.  I want all kinds of people to feel comfy coming.  There's been interest and patrons are curious, but I don't think I gave staff enough info to well equip them to answer questions.  I need to describe it positively, i.e., what it is, not just what it's not.  E.g., some folks have remarked that they're not 'smart enough' or 'deep enough' to engage in philosophical discussion.  But, bottom line: people do it all the time, even with themselves in their heads, they just don't realize it.

An example I've been using is something that happened to me about 6 months ago.  The short story: I, along with others in the restaurant, saw a parent do something wrong.  A father was being a verbal jerk to his family...there was a wife, two teen sons - maybe 14 and 17; it was kinda hard to tell if the older one was a big 15 or 16 yo; he coulda been 19 yo - and what I'll guess were one set of grandparents.  At one point, the father punched his older teen son in the arm, hard.  Not a joshing kinda punch...it was a real, angry punch.  I didn't do anything.  I didn't even think about doing anything.  It wasn't until a few days later that I thought, hey, maybe I shoulda done something.  Now, at the Cafe, we'd use this as a starting point to discuss, not simply the question of responsibility in this instance, but questions surrounding responsibility in general...public responsibility, responsibility to certain groups of people (e.g., children), group responsibility, etc.

So, yeah, we all have experiences and thoughts which would translate into Cafe topics, even if we don't know it.

As an aside, I'd always liked to think of myself as someone who would do something in a situation like that.  And look what happened.  Nothing.  I was so shocked...that was my overwhelming reaction at the time.  Fat lot of good I was to that kid.  Guess I'll have to rethink my self-perception and what I would do the next time such a situation arises.

I wasn't too surprised that no one showed up; I will be surprised if, a few weeks from now, there still are no participants.  According to the website, it's common for Cafes to have slow starts; I hope that's all it is bc I think it'll be fun and interesting.

I recently ran into Tom, owner of the Darress Theatre, located right next to the library.  He's planning to start up his own chat group, oriented around independent films, including documentaries about things most of us have no idea are going on.  The documentaries, I imagine, will often be depressing bona fide reality shows...the kinda stuff I feel I should watch, but can't take too much of it at one sitting bc it can be overwhelming and I might just have to end it all already to make it stop.  There'll be fictional movies, too.

I see that, this weekend, there's a political fundraiser at the theatre for some Tom Wyka character.  Hmmm...let's see who this guy is....  Oh, he's a Democratic challenger to longtime Republican incumbent House Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.  Huh.  I had no idea someone was challenging him.  They have some interesting - and different - stuff at the theatre.  I meant to ask him if he planned on having another Bugs Fest.  Yes, it's a Bugs Bunny festival.  He held them for a coupla years...it feels good to laugh like that for a whole night.  'Hillbilly Hare': classic.  See Bugs fiddle and hear him call the dance here; transcript here.  Excerpt:

Bugs:
(Singing.) Grab a fence post, hold it tight,
Womp your partner with all your might.
Hit him in the shin, hit him in the head,
Hit him again, the critter ain't dead.
Wop him low and wop him high,
Stick your finger in his eye.
Pretty little rhythm, pretty little sound,
Bang your heads against the ground.

Ah, good stuff, good stuff.

Well, I gotta drag my lazy arse onto the treadmill for a while.

Postponed

I understand that the zoning vote about this issue was postponed.  Apparently, although not all members of the zoning board were present, there were enough to vote on the issue.  But the number of members present was low enough to give the mosque folks the option to have the vote with those present or wait until a future meeting when maybe more zoning board members are present.  They decided to try their luck at a future meeting.