School and Work

Two similar things that are quite different! Registration season for the Spring 2009 semester is upon us.

I am undecided if I should go ahead and enroll for 3 classes again instead of my plan of enrolling for just 2 classes and then getting a part-time job. I know there's always the option of dropping the third class but by then I probably would have purchased my books or I may want to drop the class only after the deadline has passed.

Busy/Trends

School has been keeping me busy. I'd say that this semester has been MUCH busier than last semester, but I'll take that as a good sign that I'm getting my money's worth for this education.

When I'm not busy with school, I'm procrastinating. When I'm neither procrastinating nor busy with school, I'm blowing off steam in some form. Today (guess why) I found myself window-shopping online and found a librarian pin for sale at some trendy website. I could understand the retro fascination with owls and such, but how in the world is this hip? Why not a pin that says "plumber" or "senior engineer" or something like that?

Banned Books Week

Today is the start of Banned Books Week.

It's interesting to think that Mark Twain passed away almost a hundred years ago, yet he's ranked third in the list of the Most Frequently Challenged Authors of 2007. That's street cred you can't buy.

You've read a banned book if you have read:
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Angelou)
- Brave New World (Huxley)
- The Giver (Lowry)
- most of the Harry Potter books (Rowling)
- The Golden Compass (Pullman)
- Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
- The Lovely Bones (Sebold)
I've read those books, because obviously I am a bleeding-heart liberal from California. Woohoo. I have also purchased a copy of “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell, which is the #1 most challenged book of 2007, but I have not read it since I had it directly shipped to a friend and her partner, so it could be one of the first books their daughter will ever read.

Sharing is Scaring

I've had to watch this video for two classes in my grad school life, so far. Everyone else should suffer through it.

"ANGRY LIBRARIAN"

A little extreme, aren't we?

In one class, alongside outdated tutorials on how to attach files in Outlook Express and how to send files through ICQ, there is a UNIX cheat sheet.

It looked like all fun and games until the UNIX cheat sheet.

Trying to generate as much work momentum early on is harder than it sounds. This late-summer heat wave is not helping.

When doubling up is not good...

In one of my classes, the professor is teaching two sections of the same class. Basically, she is teaching another class, which is just like the class that I am in. Both classes share the same discussion board on the class site, which could cut down on duplicate questions, but it's not reassuring to find 92 posts in the introduction board on the first day of class. How many "Hi, _____!" posts do you need?!

Being remembered by the prof in this class is probably going to be tougher than the other one. I am not amused.

So very tired...

The ALA Conference was great. What could be better than a book cart drill competition? A bunch of videos featuring book cart drill teams.

I picked up a lot of advance reviewer copy books. I am addicted to these things.

Then I went to another, totally different convention and lost my phone. Much sadness ensued. Edit: I got my phone back.