anniemiz

A Tale of Two Dents

To quote Charlie Brown, 'Aaugh!'  Last night I found a note under my car wiper: 'I'm very sorry to have hit your car.  Please call me to discuss.  [Name & number]'   I usually park on the side street by work (there's no parking for the building).  This is the second time in about a year that someone's hit my car while it was parked there.  The perp didn't leave a note the first time.  That is most annoying.  I ended up paying around $1,500 to fix it.  I don't look forward to having to get another dent fixed...getting the estimate, trading insurance info or having the guy pay for it, dropping off the car at the body shop, picking up the car, etc....but at least the guy had the decency to leave a note so I'm not very upset this time.  I'll call the guy today...and hope it goes well...I have an idea who it might be bc a lot of store/restaurant employees and owners park in the long term spots on the side streets.  The person from last time, who didn't leave a note?  Scum of the earth.

Sadly, finding that someone hit my car was not the low point of the day.  Apparently, I am an asshole.  Not just me...I share that attribution with my co-worker/friend/fellow crazy cat lady/and now fellow asshole, Stephanie.  Some patron was upset bc she couldn't take out a book for her kid's summer reading book report which is due on Wednesday (which he had, ya know, all summer to do it) bc she owed too much money in fines.  If you owe >=$5 in fines, you can't take stuff out or use the computer or put something on hold....  Suffice to say, this patron owed a bit more than $5.

If possible, we generally try to work out something with patrons.  I can't speak for Stephanie, but once this lady got going, I admit I was kinda speechless.  She informed us rather pointedly that she knows the mayor.  That might impress in NYC, but Boonton?  There's only about 8,000 people in town...it seems that a large percentage -- perhaps a majority? -- of town residents are (is?) related to somebody else in town...who doesn't know the mayor?

It's fortuitous that I've recently been upping my public response chill skills.  Earlier this year, I decided to pretend I was high or on medications (that is, more meds than I'm really on) when someone was especially challenging.  Recently, I've added the wait-a-bit-before-I-open-my-mouth strategy.  It's always tempting to say the obvious flat out, e.g., to the lady leaving her kid's report to the last minute (and they're not the only parent/child combo that does it; she's just one who reacts badly) I was tempted to get into that saying about how lack of planning on her part doesn't constitute an emergency on our part.  Not that that would've been helpful; most certainly it would not have been.  But it's tempting to say that.  Or smack them upside the head.  Mmm, that's rather unhelpful, too.  Although saying nothing was probably not helpful, it was probably not as hurtful as more satisfying alternatives.

Two Months of Those Days

It's been two months since I posted that I wouldn't post just then bc it had been one of those days.  Well, apparently it's been two months' worth of those days.  Work has kept me really busy.  Our library director left a few months ago and they haven't hired a new one yet.  Many of us are doing things that the director used to do.  E.g., I order the DVDs now which isn't difficult, but it is more time-consuming than I expected.  I figured I'd just go down a list and go boom, boom, boom I want to order those movies.  There are always so many new releases.  And there are a lot of things to consider when selecting movies:

• We have very limited space; I can't just order one of each.  It has to be something that will circulate and not just take up space.
• We have a small budget so, again, I can't order everything out there; I have to prioritize.
• But we also have some glaring omissions in our movie collection, e.g., none of The Godfather movies?!?  Well, okay, that last one was just mezzo mezzo, but still!  We're talking about The Godfather!
• We also have a diverse population in town, e.g., a lot of Pakistani, a fair number of Indians, what appears (from my anecdotal observations) to be a growing Latino presence, even a few Poles!  So I ordered a few films that might appeal to those groups, e.g., some Bollywood love story/comedy that sounded fun, a Spanish movie that got good reviews, etc.  I'll see if patrons like them and take it from there.
• One of our trustees noted that our movie collection is pretty heavy on the light stuff, i.e., fluff, and straight out entertainment and suggested we add some educational and informational movies.  So what did I order?  Some nature stuff, e.g., a documentary on the North American grey wolf; a documentary on Alzheimer's (I saw an installment on it on TV and thought it very interesting; I also thought that, with people living longer and the baby boomers starting to retire, some of our patrons might find it useful)...I already forget what I ordered.  Maybe I oughta watch that Alzheimer's documentary.

And that's just some of the things to take into account when selecting movies.

And then there's the technical stuff.  Somehow I am now the technical contact for the library.  And the webmaster.  *snort*  I know, I know!  With the movies, at least I know what kinds of movies we've had in the past, we order them from one source, I can spend $X per month on movies, yadda yadda yadda.  With the technical stuff I usually have very little or no idea what I'm doing.  And with the webmaster stuff, I'm starting at ground zero wrt simply editing the website, forget about doing new stuff.  I've spent some frustrating hours trying to figure out stuff.  One thing I have learned to do before submitting a help ticket to the tech staff at the county library: check the on and power buttons first.  And when a computer goes down - unless it's something really obvious (again with the on buttons...and let's not forget plugs...okay, maybe I'm not that bad at it) - I usually end up opening a help ticket.

I could go on - and I am tempted to settle down for a good chin wag with the internet here - but a) I'm sure you get the picture and b) I gotta get ready for another day at work.

Crash Dummy

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.  I actually had stuff to post, but my puter's hard drive crashed.  I'm typing on Kevin's pc now, which is okay, but it's not my pc.  I've only had the thing for about 6 months or so now.  I was losing internet access occasionally and got some message about McAfee anti-spam.  McAfee took me through a patch...a few times, assuring me each time that it would fix the problem.  And then all of a sudden I couldn't scare up anything beyond a black screen and a cursor.

So I did the online chat with Dell (on Kevin's pc bc mine was useless)...btw, chat is so much better than trying to do it over the phone...and they had me run some diagnostic thingie on my pc...which found that my hard drive is dead.  I mentioned the problem w/losing internet access and the guy thinks I had some spyware/malware.  Gross.  He issued all the usual warnings about opening attachments, visiting specious websites, etc.  I'm usually pretty good about that stuff bc a) I try to stay out of the bowels of the internet; and b) I'm lazy in that I can't be bothered to open up most attachments sent in emails. 

I actually wonder if the problem has anything to do with the fact that Miles likes to sit/sleep on the keyboard.  Several times I've found him hanging out there, looking all innocent while the screen shows all kinds of activity going on.  He's opened up all manner of programs, started things, stopped things, closed things....  I didn't mention it to the Dell guy bc I don't know if cat vandalism is covered under warranty.

They sent out a new hard drive which I will try to replace today since it's a SNOW !!1! DAY at work.  I luuuurrrve snow days.  I have a feeling that I appreciate snow days off of work now even more than snow days off of school as a kid.  I think I do; this job thing can suck the lifeblood out of a person.  I'm trying to let it get less of my blood than I have in previous jobs.  I remember worrying so much about work when I was at places like Coopers & Lybrand and Deloitte & Touche.  What a waste of time and energy.  Not that the work wasn't worthwhile to somebody; it was certainly honest work; it just wasn't worthwhile to me and yet I got soooo into it.  I let myself get sooooo into it (which would've been fine it it were worth it to me, but it wasn't).  Now I try to keep a healthy distance between work and non-work.  It is a bit easier to do this since working at the library.  I've always loved the library, books, reading, chatting, etc.   And it's a much mellower environment there.  The interpersonal relationships are much better.  I think it's possible to have better relationships there bc there's no (as far as I can see) competitive element.  I mean, what would we compete for/about?  It's a small library...everyone that works there lives in town or maybe one town over.  You get to know a lot of the patrons there, which I like.  I really like chatting with people when they come in.  It's fun...you can learn a lot just from chatting with people...some aren't into it and that's okay...but most seem to be into it.

Well, there are a few less-than-pleasant patrons.  I understand that all libraries have a certain amount of special needs patrons, where 'special needs' can mean a variety of things.  We have a few group homes in town; I think they're mostly for psychologically-challenged people.  While I understand that they have issues over which they have no control, it doesn't change the fact that their behavior can be a bit disconcerting at times, e.g., when they flip out right in front of you.  One of our newer such patrons gets on these kicks where he Googles the stuffing out of some topic.  Right now, it's religious stuff.  One day he absolutely needed to find this picture he had seen on the internet: a bridge with trees all around it. 'mkay.  Apparently, he had seen this article on Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website at some point in his life.   At the end of the article there's a picture ad for the conference's publishing company: a picture of a bridge with trees around it.  The text reads, 'Modern Questions, Gospel Answers'.  And he wanted those gospel answers something fierce.  He thought that if you click on that picture, you will get the gospel answers to all your modern questions.  Were it that easy, my friend.  That's actually not a weird thing for a psych-challenged person to think, especially since he has close to zero internet skills.  Unfortunately, I don't think I convinced him that a) it's just an ad; b) there's nothing 'behind' it; c) there's nothing to click on there; and, most difficult of all, d) the gospel answers aren't out there, i.e., the bishops might say one thing about abortion; other groups might say something else about it; and he has to figure out for himself what he thinks about it; this last bit did not go over well.  I got the feeling he thought I was lying to him.  So yes, I believe I failed that patron that day.

One guy has flipped out on us several times in the last few days...and he's allegedly not challenged in any way, except perhaps wrt anger management, but that's just my layperson's diagnosis.  He's lost documents...that he couldn't possibly recreate...that are so important...that he worked so hard on...for so long...an hour for two pages!...yet he didn't save them anywhere.  The director finally gave him a flash drive bc it's happened several times and somehow it's our fault.  He still isn't using the flash drive and it's still our fault.  Whatevs, dude.

Anyhoo...I have only myself to blame that I lost stuff when my hard drive died bc I failed to back up anything.  I hadn't acquired much on this pc...I'm mostly bummed about pictures I lost, most notably a picture of Stephanie drinking wine from the bottle through a straw.  But, as others have pointed out, there will most likely be many opportunities to recreate that particular scene.  Happy thought, that.

So, anyway, that's the deal here.  I have a backlog of stuff to post: Mmm Mmm Monday recipes; Thursday Thrift ideas; Friday Cat Blogging (but of course); movie reviews (we continue to work our way down the AFI top 100 films, as well as tossing in a few others...'Triumph of the Will' anyone?...I don't know what possessed me to watch that); and what would a blog be without a healthy dose of navel-gazing by the blogger?

For the birds

So I started working full-time at the library a few weeks ago and can I just say that this 'job' thing leaves much to be desired.  I am tewtelly behind on all kinds of things...blogging, holiday cards, home stuff, friend stuff...basically, this job thing really gets in the way of my personal life.

I pretty much work mostly days except for the occasional evening and Saturday tossed in their for flavoring.  I actually kind of like this schedule despite the fact that, on most days, work starts at the undogly hour of 9:00 AM.  What I think I really like about my new schedule is that a) it doesn't change much (my old schedule use to change due to switching w/part-timers which I used to do a fair amount when I was part-time); b) I have most weekends off; and c) I'm home most evenings which is nice bc it's nice to be home with Kevin.

What happened was: a) our esteemed children's librarian left for another job (imagine that); b) our circ person is filling in for the children's librarian; and c) I'm working the circ person's job.  Not much was expected of part-timers, but lemme tell ya this full-time gig is the real thng.  There are days when, excepting lunch, I just go all day long.  Some days I don't even get a chance to think about checking my own email, much less actually check it.  Other days aren't so busy.  Today is kinda slow, probably bco the yucky weather.

The prior circ person didn't work weekends nor did she work in the community room downstairs, i.e., where the kids all go for several hours after school.  I had been looking forward to doing - or, rather, not doing - the same, but the director decided to change the circ person's schedule between the prior person and myself doing the job.  So now I work one Saturday/month, which is actually kinda good bc I get a comp day off during the week - a nice mid-week treat.  I also work one afternoon in the community room, which is not actually kinda good bc I feel like I lose a) about 100 IQ points for every afternoon spent  overhearing the stupidity that abounds from some of our younger patrons of the community room and b) no small measure of my dignity from dealing with the more troublesome of these same patrons.

Basically, I pretty much like the new job.  I mean, no job is perfect...hey, wait a minute...maybe there is a perfect job out there...

Now that job would be perfect for me.

Anyhoo, it's been an adjustment and I'm starting to settle into things and get back on track with stuff.  Right now, I have to get back to it.

Our Most Precious Resource...

...riiiiiight.

Oh gawd.  I was at work and in the Community Room for kid-time on the 2nd day back at school recently.   This is too much of a shock to my system all at once.  Choice quotes:

Shut up!

You shut up!

You're ugly!

I won a poetry contest and now I'm having a book of my poetry published...no, I'm not going to read it to you.

No girls like you...just that ugly one.

You think you're cool, but you're not.

I broke my leg in three places this summer and I'm still recovering...no, I'm not going to show it to you.

Do you smell that?

I can speak four languages...no, I'm not going to speak in another language.

You don't smell that?

Stop talking!  You're always talking!

You're so white-bread.  You'd never make it where I grew up.

Wait, you'll smell it.

My dad gave me $300 for no reason yesterday...I told him I don't want it, but he insists...he insists on giving me all kinds of stuff...no, I'm not going to show you.

You're only 3 months older than  me.  Besides, that means you'll die before me.

Oh, come on!  I just want to see your notes!  I lost my summer project, like, yesterday!

I am too ghetto.

Stop singing that stupid song! You think you're so bad.  Nobody thinks you're bad.  Everybody thinks you're stupid.

That's Nerwin you're smelling.

Why weren't you in school yesterday?

I was in school yesterday...I was in [separate activity] all day.

You mean you were in retard zone all day.

Your dad looks gangsta.  See, I said something nice about your dad.

My teacher gave me, like, 50 bucks just to come to school today.

I'm not much of a drinker, but I think I'll make an exception, if only to force myself to forget.

Some of the quotes are from one kid and it was a little sad bc I think they were trying to tell people how great and special and unique they are.  Yes, kinda sad, but also kinda annoying.  Probably not the effect they were going for.

Plan B

Well, Dear Readers, I've decided to go with Plan B.  No, not that Plan B.  Plan A was to get a philosophy PhD and then get a job teaching philosophy (that's the highly abridged version, btw).  I've been working at Plan A for some time now, yet have decided to switch to Plan B.  Plan B is to work with animals, most likely as a veterinary technician, and preferably in a veterinary hospital, veterinary specialist, a shelter or in a research lab (i.e., a lab working on vet drugs, not a lab testing human drugs on animals).

A number of factors went into this decision; I'll just do a brain dump here.

• Time: It will take a long time to get the PhD.  I'm working on a MA part-time now; that will take a couple of years.  The PhD takes 5 years, at a minimum.  We're looking at at least 8 years before I can look for a job.  Edited to add: If we take into consideration the speed at which I've been progressing, we're looking at >8 years.
• Financial: My MA is self-funded.  One course = $2,500.  I have to take 8 or 10 courses for the MA.  At 8 courses, that's $20,000.  (The PhD programs are generally funded; it's unwise to pay for a PhD yourself, unless you have $100,000 to spare; job prospects and pay are not so good as to warrant taking on $100,000 in loans).
• Job market: As mentioned above, there are quite a few more candidates than there are jobs.
• Qualification: Because the job market is so tight, I could expect that most and best jobs go to graduates of the top institutions.  Most people use The Philosophical Gourmet Report's ranking of PhD departments.  (There are certainly disagreements about The Report.)  So I'd want to be a graduate of a top institution.  A couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to get into 3 institutions on the Report's list of the approximately 50 top departments.  Unfortunately, all the offers were unfunded.  I don't expect that I will do any better in the future; i.e., I think that's the closest I will get to securing a funded PhD position. 
• Chance: I've often read/heard people talk about the role of chance in philosophy PhD graduate admissions and job hiring.  E.g., I've heard the former described as a 'crapshoot', a 'roll of the dice', etc.  I have no idea how much chance has played a role in my experience, if at all, but I'll put it out there as something the possibility of which I would need to accept if I were to continue.
• Personality: I'm not sure I'm a good fit for academic philosophy.  I sense an atmosphere of competitiveness; I think I'm ill-suited to such an environment.  I'm quite content competing with myself; I have no interest in competing with others.  Years ago, in my corporate life, one Big Shot Exec asked Another Big Shot Exec (they had very different styles) if they thought the firm benefits more from competition between employees or cooperation between employees.  Another Big Shot Exec was quite certain that competition was more beneficial (and that was reflected in his style), while One Big Shot Exec was quite certain it was cooperation (and that was reflected in her style).  I agree with the latter and, fortunately, I was working for her at the time.  I'd much rather work with someone else as opposed to compete against them.  There has been some discussion about the field's atmosphere, so let me be explicit about:
• My comments reflect my experiences and perceptions only.
• My comments do not describe the entire field, departments, sub-departments, etc.  To be sure, there are great collaborations in the field.  And I have met many wonderful people; some have been exceedingly helpful and generous with their time and advice; others are perpetually interesting; some are flat out just great people; and many are all kinds of good things put together.
• So, while I am delighted to note the very positive experiences I have had these last few years, I must also admit that I do not feel as comfortable as I would like to feel, especially if I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life.
• Bottom line re: these caveats: It's not you, it's me.
• Fun: The fun parts, for me, are reading and thinking about stuff (which is basically done alone) and talking with other people. I do not imagine myself enjoying certain other responsibilities of the academic philosopher.  It's a rare person who enjoys every aspect of their job, however, I think that working at the less enjoyable aspects within an environment to which I am not well-suited is a recipe for significant and recurring unhappiness.  I don't need/want that. I think I may be better suited to the life of an armchair philosopher, rather than an academic philosopher.

As to why go into veterinary work:

• Time: It will take approximately 2 years to complete 70 credits (see here for one program's curriculum).  There are a lot of courses, but most are <2 credits.  Also, some programs are online (see the linked curriculum).  NJ has two vet tech programs.  One is at Camden Community College.  That would be really far to drive on a regular basis and, sorry Camden people, but Camden is, shall we say, less friendly than optimal, so I wouldn't go there for personal safety reasons.  The other one is at Bergen Community College.  That's also a bit of a haul to drive on a to and through a very congested area on a regular basis.  True, I used to drive to classes before a couple of times a week, but I imagine that drive was much simpler than the drive to Bergen.  Now, IIUC, the program there is some kind of joint program with other county colleges, including the county I live in.  They probably offer some of the requisite courses there and that's about a half hour drive away.  Thing is, the Bergen program has probational accreditation and that makes me a little nervous.  I'm totally open to going to school online.  The program at Purdue looks interesting.  Now, they do say that online students typically take longer to complete the program bc they're working full-time and/or have family obligations (probably why they chose to do it online in the first place), but I don't think those factors are as significant for me as it is for others.  And I'll guess that I have any humanities requirements well covered. 
• Financial: Well, I thought it would be less expensive than a philosophy MA, but 70 credits at $255 each = $17,850.  Hmmph.  I certainly expect to be able to work more while following the online program so that should help financially.
• Job Market: Excellent, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.  Earnings aren't great, but a) they're more than I'd make as an unemployed philosopher (although some have found other ways of making a living); b) I live in one of the highest paying areas of the country so I'll earn toward the higher end; and c) if I specialize (which I expect I'll want to do, maybe oncology), I'll earn more.
• Qualification: I really don't expect to have much problem completing the program.  I hope I don't end up having to remove both feet from my mouth.
• Personality: I think I'm a good fit for the veterinary field.  I'm very comfortable with animals; I like animals and animal people; it strikes me as more of a team effort (note, however, that, as someone pointed out to me, 'There's no team without ME') and I'm very good in cooperative efforts.  I've also had the opportunity to be a consumer of advanced and unusual veterinary services, what with the various illnesses of our cats, and I think it's fascinating.
• Fun: I expect that I will enjoy veterinary work more than I would enjoy the life of an academic philosopher.  When I imagine myself doing the different types of work, I imagine more enjoyment and reward (which, for me, produces enjoyment) from veterinary work.  In fact, I find myself smiling at many prospects.  Of course, I could be way off; I hope I'm not.
• Edited to add: Physicality: I like doing stuff with my hands, as readers may have noticed from posts about cooking, knitting, doing stuff around the house, gardening, etc.

Now, this isn't a done deal bc I do need to do some more research on the veterinary side of things.  I've done some preliminary research, but I want to make sure I have a complete picture of things before I go hurtling down that path.  I do have some misgivings about making this switch, but that's a whole 'nuther post.  Right now, I have to have lunch, do some other stuff and head off to work.

[bleep] my [bleep] big [bleep].

So I'm at work the other day.  Two sisters, about 16 and 10 yo, leave and come right back in, saying that someone on the porch is making fun of the older sister and yelling obscenities at both of them.  Don't know for certain, but I'll guess that he was making fun of the older one bc she was wearing hijab.  Anyway, I go outside and find that the offending party is a teenage boy who is banned from the library (technically, he's banned until he comes in with a parent/guardian, meets with the director and they agree under what, if any, conditions he might be allowed back; said parent/guardian has not responded).  I forget exactly what the last straw was, but his standard repertoire includes running through the library yelling obscenities for all to hear.  When addressed bco his behavior, he will then direct some choice expletives to the unlucky staffperson dealing with his nonsense.  He's also occasionally performed outside, banging on the door and windows, all the while yelling his head off.

So I remind Nasty Boy (so called for soon to be obvious reasons) that he is not allowed on library property and to please leave.  He replies with a vigorous 'Suck my goddamn big ass' before removing himself to the sidewalk.  He remained there, perched precariously on the very edge of the sidewalk, where a stiff breeze might easily send his scrawny self onto library property.  Fortunately, he only stayed there about 15 minutes before he and his friends found someone else to annoy further up Main Street.  You know, I should have called the police right off the bat and, should he return (I have reason to believe that maybe he's left the state so he may not), I will do just that.

Most of the kids that come into the library are pretty good kids, but we do have a fair number of lost puppies.  Some kids get dumped/sent there after school (during the school year) or first thing in the morning (when school's not in session) bc...well, there are a number of reasons.  1) Some parents (or guardians) want the kids out of their hair.  2) Some don't have/can't afford daycare and they consider the library free daycare (hey, they pay their taxes!).  3) Some have no control over their kids and have no idea that they're even at the library.  I'm sure there are other reasons of which I'm unaware.

The library does not pretend to offer daycare and goes out of its way to tell parents that we cannot watch their kids and to not assume that their kids are safe bc they're at the library which, in many peoples' minds, is considered as safe as a church. Maybe that's not a good comparison...churches haven't always been safe places for children, but you get the picture.

Anyhoo, if any kid turns up at the library, acts like a normal, fairly civilized human being and wants to use the library as, oh, a library (as opposed to using it to skateboard or practice their mad dribbling skillz or have an ice cream sundae party), that's no problem.  And even well-behaved younger children cannot stay at the library beyond a certain amount of time (some parents/guardians have sent 6 and 8 year olds to amuse themselves at the library all day long).  All too often, however, they seem incapable of acting like normal, fairly civilized human beings.  It seems many have never been expected to act out of consideration for others.  That's rather important in our library bc it's so incredibly small (think the first floor of a decent- though not McMansion-sized old house; maybe like someone's grandmother's house).  A lot learn what's expected of them and modify their behavior, albeit sometimes with regular reminding.

As an aside, I don't know how my co-workers with young children do it bc I think I'd go postal if I spent a good portion of my day explaining to other peoples' kids why we don't spit at other people or why we do flush the toilet after we've used it and then went home to my own growing person who also needed to learn important lessons about spitting and flushing.

But some kids seem worse off.  After one of Nasty Boy's shows, some of the kids noted, rather nonchalantly, that Nasty Boy's stopped taking his meds.  I think he may also have been shuttled from relative to relative.  The point is that the boy seems quite clearly to be suffering.  And while I have at times wanted to throttle him, I actually do feel quite badly for him.  It must be very confusing, difficult and scary to be so young and so off kilter.

I've also felt badly about another kid, whose behavior I blogged about before, and wondered what's happened to him.  Now that I think of it, I haven't seen him around town.  He had a probation officer at the time of that previous blog post, so who knows?  Maybe he's in jail.  He also shuttled between relatives in different states.  He must be close to 18 yo by now.  It just seems such a shame that his life will probably be full of legal trouble, substance problems, social problems, medical troubles, employment issues, etc.  Yes, yes, I do believe that even troubled youths need to eventually take responsibility for themselves, but some people have such a rough start in life that it can't come as any surprise that they never truly right themselves.

I've heard it said that one of the most important things for a young person to mature well is that they know that there's at least one person in the world who cares about them to the moon and back.  As our friend Carol recently told her teenage daughter, Christine: there is nothing in the world that Christine could do to make Carol no longer want her as her daughter or to stop loving her.  She might be disappointed, angry, sad...but she will always love and want her.  That's certainly not a pass to do whatever she wants; her daughter's actions might displease Mom, but Mom will always love and want her daughter.

I could see how that could be a very powerful message for a young person growing up, especially as they hit adolescence.  I've often thought that a person's growing years form the foundation of what they will be like as an adult (an unoriginal idea, I know) and use a concrete house foundation as a mental image: a healthy foundation is one that is solid all around; an unhealthy foundation is like one from those houses built on sticks over water.  Adults can patch it up as they find necessary or helpful, but I think there are parts of a foundation that cannot be recreated solely from within the individual later.  Normally, I'm a very positive thinker when it comes to self-improvement and change, yet I think that all the self-affirmation and self-talk in the world cannot give a person that rock solid foundation.  That's not to say that a person who feels that their foundation is lacking should not try to do something about it; I just don't think they'll be able to find/recreate the exact same thing.  Sad.

15 Seconds of Fame

Longtime readers may recall that I started a philosophy chat group at the library some time ago.  At a certain point (once some regulars established themselves), I felt the need to move on.  There were also some scheduling conflicts.

One of the participants arranged for a reporter, Lorraine Ash, from the local paper, the Daily Record, to visit with the group and write an article.  I was supposed to be there when Lorraine visited, but I screwed up the dates.  She interviewed me over the phone afterward. That article was printed on May 25, 2008; click here to read it.

I haven't attended a chat in ages.  Reading the article, I was very proud of the group's discussion.  De facto moderator Don Curiotto is very good; I have been there when he moderated and even when he doesn't moderate he's very good at introducing new viewpoints and considerations; also at keeping the discussion on track and lively.

I have only one tiny quibble.  I'm described as 'a part-time librarian en route to earning a doctorate in philosophy'.  I suppose it depends on what one means by 'en route'; The Plan is to eventually get the doctorate, but the article's description might imply that I'm in a doctoral program at the moment and I'm not.  I'm in an MA program and hope to get into a PhD program after completion of the MA.  Other than that...

Good job, people!

Give It Time

This is kind of cute.  I'm at work in the Community Room.  It's kid time this afternoon and evening.  There are a couple of 3rd grade boys looking at some bikini-clad CGI chick that one of the girls has on the screen as part of some goofy web game.  And the boys are all, 'Ewwwww!'  'That's gross!'

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!