Egypt: Days -2 to 0

I left La Crosse on Saturday morning and headed for New York. Got to see the Brunette and Husband. Attempted to locate new reading material for the Brunette before he left for his next work trip (he's picky). Met up with M on Sunday evening. Monday, M and I walked up and down Manhattan, trying on hats, futilely searching for interesting silver, and shunning the spring fashions that were just starting to make their appearance.  I'd been able to leave my heavy coat in Queens and wore only a light fleece. In January!

After one more meal we headed to the airport. Security was pretty standard, nothing I hadn't expected. I'd now gone through two sets of airport security with knitting needles and no questions. For the curious, I was flying with KnitPicks Wooden 4" Double-Pointed Needles, or as I prefer to call them, oversized painted toothpicks. I cast on a project immediately after getting through security in La Crosse and through 4 airports no one even asked what I was making. I did, of course, have extras in my checked luggage. 

We boarded and were happy to find that we had a set of three seats to ourselves. After a first round of airplane food, we read, listened to music, I did a minimal amount of knitting, we talked...the usual airplane time passing tricks. And we tried, pretty much unsuccessfully, to sleep. This was abnormal for me. I've been known to fall asleep before take off.  

Arriving in Paris at something like 4 a.m. Eastern Time, 9 a.m local, we hustled down the concourse and on to our next gate. I was bleary and my brain wasn't registering what was said to me in English, let alone polite French, but eventually I gathered I needed to also shed my jacket (not just my shoes) and got my carry-on bag rummaged through again. We had coffee and muffins and eventually we shuttled out to our plane, where we boarded and waited for a couple of hours. No particular reason was given, so we all just hung out and eventually they said sit down we're leaving. It was a full flight this time and we were seated next to a man heading to work on the oil rigs.

We'd left New York in the dark Monday and arrived well after dark in Cairo on Tuesday, total travel time about 16 hours I think? Whatever time it was, I was wiped. We shuttled to the airport, got our passports stamped, and started the search for our luggage. I also flagged down the car service meeting us. Luggage in hand we were passed through a couple of people to our personal car.

We hurtled towards Cairo, the guide accompanying our driver chattering a mile a minute about what we were passing and offering to set up various tours for us, which we politely said we'd consider. We arrived relatively quickly on Zamalek, an island in the middle of the Nile River, which is the richest area of Cairo and where our hotel was located. Zamalek is a warren of one way streets, abrupt turns, and triple parked cars, as well as the home of most of the embassies, including the one for the US.

M and I stayed at the President Hotel, which, we were told, is primarily a Canadian/European travelers hotel. Our room was relatively spacious, with a desk and a "comfortable" chair besides the twin beds with bedside tables. There was a mini fridge that we didn't use, and a TV where we kept up on world happenings, mostly the earthquake in Haiti and the Senate race in the US. It was clean though slightly worn and we were very careful about using bottled water to wash our faces, brush our teeth etc. Our room had a view over the courtyard of the Chinese Embassy next door.

Now local, I phoned our tour guide arranger Mohammed, who joined us at our hotel to review the plans for the next four days. My one page of details and scribbled notes became the basis of all reminders and my travel journal. He also took us to buy water and sandwiches from one of the local delis. Fed and through showers, we adjourned to bed. Cairo continued it's noise, the noise pollution of car horns, sirens, etc, said to make the city 8x as loud as a city of equivalent size.

We would sleep through a light rain and awaken at 4:30 a.m. to the pre-dawn call to prayer.

Egypt: The Pre-Show

Ha...and you thought there would be pictures of my trip to Egypt. Yes yes, they are forthcoming.  But to answer a few questions ahead of time:

M and I went to Egypt together in January. We went for the brilliant reason of "Because it is Tuesday." This is an excellent reason for just about anything, I suggest you make use of it.

We traveled with Air France Holidays. Our vacation package included round trip airfare from JFK through Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris to Cairo, ground transportation to and from our hotel in Cairo, and hotel accommodations. Through a friend of mine here in La Crosse, who used to go to Egypt every couple of years, and a professor in Minnesota, I obtained the phone number for a gentleman at Wings Tours. He and I communicated mostly via email, which was helpful considering the eight hour time difference. I gave him a wish list of things we wanted to do and he filled gaps with recommendations and arranged for a driver and personal tour guides for our days in Cairo. I cannot speak highly enough of our tour guide in Cairo or of our driver.

It was just the two of us, no big tour group, which I loved. We could set our own speed, ask a million questions, decide between us on meals without it being a production. I may never get on a tour bus ever again.  :)

I know it's been a while getting this up. February kind of exploded in my face and suddenly it's April and I have the 4th Annual Knitting in Public Day next week.  Bear with me.


Oh fine...here's a picture of a Pyramid:

Please Leave a Message After the Tone: Hedgehog on Holiday

Thank you for visiting the Hedgehog Librarian. I will be offline until 1/26/10: visiting Egypt with M, riding a camel, and exploring the new layers of airport security.   

Please leave a message after the tone: 

A# 

Holiday in T-6 and Counting.....

I'm leaving for NYC/Egypt in six days!!

M and I have been discussing vague travel plans for two or three years and finally, with the help of Air France Holidays*, we're headed off to Egypt.

I have a long weekend in New York on the way out, which is never a hardship. And then--camels, 70 degree temperatures, a totally different cultural experience and a new continent for me!

So far:

• I got my visa, which is a full page in my otherwise unstamped passport. Obviously it's been too many years since I traveled out of the country.
• I have arranged for a cat sitter in residence. O met Gypsy last night and it was a smashing success. Gypsy might want to go home with her at the end of it...
  
• The Incredibly-Patient-Mother hemmed a pair of jeans so I can wear them with flats for hiking about pyramids and such. All of my other jeans are hemmed to two inch heels, so this was an important consideration.
  
• The Brunette has agreed to keep my winter coat and some heavier clothes at his house so I don't have to worry about hauling a down coat there and back.
  
• We've arranged for a tour guide/driver while we're there, working off recommendations of a professor in MN who is a native Egyptian and regularly takes student groups.
  
• Wound up five skeins of yarn and bought new 4" knitting needles to take with me. They're TINY, it looks like I'm knitting with colorful toothpicks.
  

Still to do:

• Pack some clothes.
• Load the mp3 player
• Get a larger memory SD card
• Figure out what to take to read. I'm thinking about my hard cover of Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Yes, it's heavy but I'll be able to lay it out flat on the tray table and knit while I'm reading. Also I'll pack some paperback romances that can be left behind.
  

It's unclear how much web time I'll have once we get there. I expect to mostly be off the grid for five or six days. My cell phone won't work and I'm not packing my laptop. So the pictures and trip updates will probably have to wait.

We're not sure if we'll get to go through full body scanners on the trip home. It's the one thing I'm concerned about as we're headed home because we won't have a long layover in Paris.


*The prices are amazing!

Hedgehogs in the News: Another Pudgy Hog

Albino hedgehog put on weight-loss regime

Cute "fluffy" hedgehog...I can think of worse things than getting to go swimming every day

Thanks M!

The Pile in My Library Basket

As I commented recently to M or the Incredibly Patient Mother, probably both, I'm reading more "adult" books of late. I don't mean books of a prurient nature but ones that are in the adult portion of the library rather than the teen or children's room. This, I'm learning, comes as a shock to some people.

I must keep in mind that those in my immediate day to day don't recognize that I haven't always read children's literature. Though widely read as a child,* I skipped the teen section almost entirely and went straight for Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton around the age of twelve. Through college and graduate school, the reading I did outside of class tended far more towards escape literature: short romances or mysteries. After a forty page dense essay on taxonomies or the ethics of the copy machine, you too would be ready for an easily solvable crime where the killing is done off-scene and a happy ending is achieved in under 200 pages.

Then I started working in children's departments. This hadn't really been the original plan--I'd wanted to go for music cataloging. But previous experience working with children led me to Chicago Public and now La Crosse Public in the Youth Services departments. And if I haven't read the fiction books--it's awfully hard to make a good recommendation to the patrons coming in.

So, for nearly two years I've piled on the children's books. The selection these days seems better written and from a far greater variety than I remember as a child**, this excepting the diabetes-inducing series that I can't order enough of to make our little princesses, superheros, fairies, underwater sponges, and pop stars happy. Our Teen Librarian really enjoys her work too, which means there are a lot of spiffy teen novels that follow me home as well.

But a diet of literature intended for those under 18 (or spiced only with that familiar escape literature), has lost some of the appeal. So I'm wading through Buy-ology (review to come soon) and going back to Four Queens. The latter isn't really a stretch, I like European histories of Medieval and Renaissance times and actually read an Eccesiastical History of the Bristish People for pleasure***. The former caught my eye somewhere and has proved interesting thus far. We'll see. I still haven't ventured much into adult fiction for the moment, outside of my usual consumption of cozy mysteries and regency romances at a rate that seems to not surprise only the circulation staff (who are either too polite or are taking bets on how many I'll check out in the next month).

But while I know my reading has been rather focused, it's been strange to hear reactions to the book s. Based on those, you'd think I'd never read anything above a sixth grade audience level. "Oh, an adult book." First the surprise and then the backpedaling. "Well, it's not that you can't read one, I just never see you read one" seems to be a popular refrain, despite the fact that the people speaking rarely see me read anything other than those cozy mysteries and romances (the latter of which come with their own assumptions and reader baggage). Children's lit tends to be consumed at home.

Ah, the joys of other people's assumptions about me. Here's your friendly afternoon reminder not to assume--for you know what it makes, right?


*The Incredibly-Patient-Mother's rule about library books was that I had to be able to carry them all to the car by myself. Fortunately, I just had to make it to the car. Once we got home, I could make two trips into the house.
**Though I'm sure I missed some gems of the 80s
***And to a lot of weird looks on the subway

Random Quote Sunday: Blame the Kitchen

"I can't go...my appliances won't let me."
--Apparently every time M goes away one of her appliances goes bananas. When she went to France it was the kitchen sink. She just got back from Germany and it's the TV. I suggested that excuse for her next business trip.

The Vatican Book...

Jane pointed out I didn't link a book I mentioned yesterday. Sorry...I forget you can't all see my bedside table.

Secret Archives of the Vatican by Maria Luisa Ambrosini

M loaned it to me and heaven help me I'm having a hard time with it.

Multiple Intelligences, Multiple Interests

I love hanging out with my friends--I am reminded how amazingly brilliant they are in such a wide variety of ways. It also makes me feel like I should be doing and reading far more than I am and almost always makes me want to go back to school.

I attended a barbecue recently with friends who have been displaying a crazy amount of raw brain power for some years. There was discussion of theater, various types of vegetarian burgers, non-lactose cow sensitivity, Solzhenitsyn, and the current state of architecture in the Eastern Bloc. What does one label the cement structures we saw being built during the sixties and the cold war? How do you compare the gulag descriptions of Solzhenitsyn to those of other Russian writers who were in Siberia prisons? So goat's milk is okay but perhaps, at some point, not beef? It's enough to send one diving for the lit crit and history books along with the relish and another ham/veggie/turkeyburger.

I was debating this with M on the way home from the BBQ. While much of our discussions revolve around some medical obscurities, what she's writing and what I'm knitting--she's also my source on antiques, china patterns, and gemstones. I've learned more in the last two years about gemstones....

I am fascinated at the breadth of interests humans have and pursue. My Kiwanis club recently had a speaker in who talked about mountain bikers and new ecologically friendly trails they are putting in the bluffs near here, millions of people who will travel for a weekend of riding specialized bikes on these eco-friendly trails. Add in the hikers, regular bike riders, dog walkers, runners, roller bladers, and letterboxers and you can imagine how many new tourists we might see coming into La Crosse. This in stark contrast to me--who had to go buy a pair of "real" sneakers because I'm going out to Colorado and we're going out on a hike. Keds, I'm told, will not cut it on the trail. Upstairs (at least in my library) there are entire sections of books I never even consider when browsing for something to read, whole sections of the LC or Dewey or classification aide of your choice that I've never particularly devled into. But others do...and that's pretty cool.

It's lovely to have these friends who shake me out of my usual day to day. It is, I think, a general trend to read on generally the same subjects, and we often get lost in the every day. It's easy when we're constantly hammered with information from all sides. I read RSS feeds to the near exclusion of all other non-fiction and at times get so lost in my profession that I forget there are other exciting things out there. And then the phone rings or a bbq happens and I'm shaken out of my reverie.

Now if I can just work up the concentration to read the book about the Vatican library.

A Little Light Weeding

There comes a time when even the home library needs some weeding. Sad though it may be, it's good to look back through and realize that yes, I probably don't need all of the books that are on my shelves. There are some I'll never read again, some I'll never read to begin with, and some that I can't remember what kind of caffeine induced buying binge I must have been on to consider them an appropriate purchase in the first place.

Now, weeding doesn't come often. Getting rid of books is a bit of an anathema to me. The major exception here being Regency romances. Those 150 page happily-ever-after stories are just lovely--once. After that I'm more than pleased to stuff them into little bags from various boutiques or padded envelopes and send them off to other readers. Recently I absolutely made a friend's day. At her graduate recital in lieu of flowers I brought her a bag of romances. She was so excited--after months of hard work prepping for her recital and graduating with her masters, here was the perfect fluffy antidote.

But other books are...well...mine. They line the walls, they spill over my bedside table, they pile up under, on, around, and through the coffee table. Weeding is a challenge. I'm still convinced I'll make it through the "Probably Not Very Good History" and the "Esoteric Materials No One Else Will Ever Read." And really--those should not have equal shelf space and devotion as my well worn copies of all of Austen's books, my signed copy of Number the Stars and all the Yarn Harlot Books.

So, at M's direction and encouragement, I signed up for PaperbackSwap. After signing up you post books you're willing to mail to other people. You get emails when they choose one of your books and you wrap it up/stuff it in a mailer, add postage and out the door--mostly at media mail prices. Paypal is used for postage/delivery confirmation as chosen by you. For each book you mail you get a credit and can request books from other people. Those books come to you "free" --as you've already spent money on the books you were sending. You can then choose to keep or repost the books you get and the cycle continues.

So far I've mailed and received about 8 books. All in all it's not a bad system and it's meant I've been able to round out my Lilian Jackson Braun collection a little but there's one problem--at least for the sporadically aggressive weeder like me. I've had a box of books sitting in my living room for a couple of months now that I want to get rid of. I've weeded them mentally but because no one has requested them, they are still physically at my place--taking up space. So I'm thinking I may purge that group of books if I can figure out another half dozen or so that can move into the "temporary weeding" position. Because those books have had their day and apparently no one else wants them.

But if you do go through a lot of paperbacks, it is a nifty little site and I do recommend popping over to have a look at it. At least until I get a Half-Priced Books in my neighborhood, this and the Friends of the Library Book Sales may have to do.

Book Review: Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Secret Mission

The book on today's review pile was read at the suggestion of M, who knows my penchant for a good cozy mystery. Authored by Michael Bond, the brilliant mind behind the ever popular Paddington Bear, I was expecting a similarly engaging style of writing. This being the man who introduced many of us to the wonders of orange marmalade, you can imagine I had high expectations.

Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Secret Mission
Michael Bond

For those for whom French is not a primary or secondary language 'pamplemousse' means grapefruit. Monsieur Pamplemousse is a restaurant reviewer, charged by his editor to investigate said editor's aunt's restaurant and find out why unusual happenings involving a love potion have been occurring in the area.

Coming to this with thoughts of Paddington, it was quite the sharp left hand turn into Bond's more adult style of writing. M. Pamplemousse is a married, middle aged connoisseur of fine food and wine. There is an unapologetic open nature to his marriage--he mentions his wife appreciating him being out of the house as well as her guilty conscience and he makes a pass at his editor's wife when the two couples have dinner.

The good Monsieur is accompanied by his faithful hound (on whom he lavishes far more attention than his wife): Pommes Frites.

On assignment by his editor, Mr. Grapefruit and French Fry drive out from Paris to discover the goings on behind the editor's aunt's poor food and the mystery of this love potion. Into the French countryside the pair drives (with a full hamper from Madame Grapefruit), detouring to see a friend about to stand trial for indecent exposure (relating to that love potion) and eventually landing at the inn.

Through a course of meals of varying quality, day trips to neighboring towns, chasing down Pommes Frites when he goes on a hormone driven spree, and various attacks on his person, Monsieur Pamplemousse works to discover the history of an inn that used to be a place recommended for lovers and describes excellent food.

While only the bad guy dies and everything is tied up neatly in the end, I had a little trouble engaging with the story. Bond spends a lot of time on condescending descriptions where a phrase such as "the pressure dropped, and it started to rain." The food descriptions weren't quite enough to draw one in, and I have mixed feelings about the lead character. Sometimes I liked him, other times he annoyed me. The scenes written from Pommes Frites voice were engaging, breaking up some of the lofty tone of the book.

I'll probably read the rest of the series, at least one or two more but if you're not already a fan of older mysteries, I wouldn't recommend it.

(Great...now I'm craving Orange Marmalade on a bagel.)

Lent...or, cutting off the wool supply.

The sheep of the world are not allowed to become magically incapable of growing more wool over the next two months.

And if that isn't a way to start a blog post--what is?

Whilst chatting with M this evening, the subject arose of her expectation of a King's Cake in the mail. M is from New Orleans originally, so Mardi Gras is in her blood. This turned to a discussion of Easter in generally and Lent in specific.

Lent and I, we don't have a very good relationship. Generally you're supposed to give something up for Lent--and one pastor I had recommended taking something up as well, out with the bad habits, in with the good. Normally the giving up is associated with something of the food variety. I became a tea drinker the year I gave up chocolate (age 8), and at some point in my teen years it just kind of went by the wayside. The Incredibly-Patient-Mother will back me up when I say I wasn't particularly interested in much food to begin with, so giving up what I actually would eat was not a good idea.

Fortunately or unfortunately I still eat much the same way. Yes, I made Calico Beans and a giant Crockpot of beef stew this week but most of the time lunch is something frozen that I have around the apt and dinner involves lots of cereal. Chex and Cheerios are my favorites. But anyway--giving up food, probably not a good option.

So, as M and I talked, I came up with the idea that I should go on a brief yarn diet. I have lots of beautiful yarn in my home--why not give up buying yarn and knitting stuff (needles, etc) for two months? It will be more difficult than it sounds--I listen to knitting podcasts, hear about knitting sales, and feel the need to run up to the yarn store every now and then. And while it's a cheaper habit than most, I can spend a lot very quickly.

But still, I assume sheep will still be woolly at the end of March--when M and I will be hanging out around a conference she's attending. And if I've been good, I get to go to Loopy while she's at the conference center.

Three Day Tuesday....

Some days--because of their myriad sections--become more than one day. Today for example--was three days.

Day 1: Meeting with NY, quick call with M, a little light reading in the sunshine, lunch

Day 2: Work, including some desk time, catching up with my boss who was on vacation, and debating the death of an actor.

Day 3: Promptly started at 9:02 p.m. and will end when I fall asleep. Comprised of a super long conversation with the Tech Sergeant wherein we discuss everything from why he volunteered to rotate over to Iraq a couple of years ago to how we get along with various extended family members to the merits of Transformer videos and characters.

Three very distinct days really...so how is it that it's still Tuesday?

The Annoying Crafty Person... is me.

I realized that I've become the annoying crafty person. You know, the one who shows up before Christmas with handmade gifts and 98% of their Christmas shopping done (except a small purchase that I have to do for Member-of-the-Family-Who-Shall-Be-Unnamed-in-this-Post).

I knitted washcloths for a dozen coworkers, paired with a scented goat's milk soap. This is not to be taken as a suggestion about said coworkers--which occurred to me at one point. (Can't you just see me--eight washcloths into this going "What if someone takes offense and thinks I mean they don't wash often enough?")

In my defense, M finished her Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, I cast on a late Christmas idea that definitely won't be done before I see the recipient and a lot of my holiday "shopping" involved some quality time between me and the Amazon site. And then there's my apartment: which might look like a small crafting tornado erupted in it.

There was also some stress-induced creative language at my apartment when I announced I would never try various washcloth patterns again and when I was faced with yet another evening of cotton yarn. There was also washcloth knitting right up until last night as I procrastinated until the very last day that I would see the majority of my coworkers before Christmas.

So I can't do it all but I did at least get the washcloths done.

I'm going back to wool now until July. And next year I may try to avoid knitting for people. Maybe.

Trying to Make Sense out of the "Kindle"-ing

I'd have had to completely abandon my computer for 48 hours to miss the chaotic conversations swarming around Kindle. What incredible w-o-m advertising!

While there was incredible hype leading up to the release of the I-phone and queuing up to obtain the phones--this seems to have exploded onto the shelves out of nowhere. Last week I'd never heard of a Kindle and couldn't care less-- today I'm wading in stories about it up to my cats-eye glasses.

Brief side note: Thank heavens for the Search function in Google Reader. I was trying to remember which all of the bloggers I read had commented on it and was getting a wee overwhelmed.

I see a lot of pros and cons to this tool and since 26 (what's in my blog list) just can't possibly be enough-- here is my opinion (supplemented with many other people's opinions).

Pros
1) Large print usage. I see a lot of potential if the print is big enough and many more titles (especially best sellers) being available to older readers. With the aging of our eyes, what a great advantage to have.

2) Smaller than packing Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon for all of those wonderful spontaneous vacations where I can only pack one bag (and that bag must include evening wear).

3) Useful for a constant traveler-- the Brunette worked as a flight steward and now is in a job where he travels a TON. He also doesn't collect books the way I do. I could see this on his Christmas list.

4) Saves trees!

5) Built in dictionary and wikipedia.

6) I don’t need a computer—as I would with Ebooks. (Unless I want to upload stuff to it—like Audible’s audiobooks)

7) “Library” on Amazon.com in case I buy more than 200 books.

8) Could be very useful for textbooks. I’d much rather carry this to school every day rather than the heavy texts—and it would mean I wouldn’t be looking at someone’s scribbles and highlights.

9) Battery life of up to 30 hours. Lots longer than my laptop!

Cons

1) I have a reasonably healthy fear that I'll break it. I don't do things with touch screens (e.g. large Ipod, Iphone) for the plain and simple reason that I'm very hard on my toys. I have a Sansa that I do enjoy using on occasion but I've already scratched up the screen. And my cell phone has had to stand trials of being dropped in puddles, being accidentally sent skittering across parking lots (and subway platforms) when it falls out of my pocket, being intentionally sent flying across the room when I get royally irritated and launch it at the bed. Both of those items are compact and have stood up to the test of being chucked under my laptop and three hardcover books in my carry-on bag. Could the Kindle do that?

2) Cost prohibitive. We're working towards a $100 web-enabled laptop (currently available at $400--where you get one and you send one to a child in a developing company)--explain to me the reasoning behind a $400 reader. Also-- $10 per book. I don't know about you-- but I'm a BIG shopper at used book stores. I can get a lot more for $10 bucks than one bestseller.

3) Forced RSS Feeds-- what do you mean they get to pick my feeds? Do you think I'm going to survive without my daily dose of Yarn Harlot?

4) I'm a tactile person... I love old books.

5) Needs recharging. My pocket sized copy of Pride and Prejudice never needs to reload.

6) I can't share with a friend. I'm a healthy consumer of Regency Romances--I get them from used book stores, charge through them and then (currently) toss them in an envelope and send them to the Opera Singer (not to be confused with the Blonde). I was taking them to her about once every two weeks in a small shopping bag but since the move--we've had to make some changes. Too—I borrow and loan books to family and friends all the time.

7) Charging to send files you own to your Kindle unless you connect to a computer and issues with copying various formats. Now doesn't that sound like a sneaky way to charge you more money. What if I send something to you to read--and I send it to your Kindle. Now you're paying for everything that I send you? I see potential for spam that costs me money.

8) Can you download from a plane? Or would wireless transfer be useless when you're in air?

10) "No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments" --just the content bill every time you download something.

11) Not available outside the US and currently only works with a US credit card-- Hmmmm. Taking a cue from Apple, much?

12) Slightly big brotherish in that they hold on to information about everything you’ve read and bookmarked… yeah the circ desk is chuckling because I put every Regency romance in the consortium on hold but at least once I return the books no one is keeping a record of what I’ve read (except me…) What if a government asks for the reading records?

13) It's just not sexy. Why did they make it white? One does NOT carry white accessories after Labor Day people!!

14) No backlight. Which renders it useless for reading in the car on long night rides, reading in bed, reading it anywhere that there isn’t enough light. Mp3 Player screens light up for a reason…

15) They say that they have their own wireless delivery system. And that covers where exactly? Even cell phones have “out of range.” I should know—I’m currently hanging out on the Verizon Extended Network.

A nice comparison of book vs. Kindle is here.

Eventually, I could see this as a useful tool. I think that in the future, if price comes down, DRM opens up, they make it black, and other improvements are made—this might be very nice. But I don’t see myself getting one for at least a couple of years (long enough to work on the backlog of physical books on my shelves that I need to read).

Interestingly, it does show that we are still reading—or at least the hipsters with money are. And I will get a chance to play with one-- my director put in a purchase order.

Blocking Cell Phone Spam

I don't know why I didn't anticipate it as the next thing coming but, as I noted yesterday, idiots online were texting me spam. I'm not really sure what the point was. I suppose it assume web browser capability (not on my phone) and that I'll be SO fascinated by the content I'll log on and buy a certain blue pill. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Instead, it sent me to Verizon--whose online & phone customer service rocks. I've always gotten prompt assistance and easy rectification of problems with them. My favorite is that they text me when I'm about to exceed my minutes and offer to tweak my plan so I don't go into severe overages. Considering how much M and I talk some months on top of my various meetings-- this is very needed. Caveat--the store customer service is a little questionable--it varies greatly by store.

But anyway, back to the subject at hand. I had an email in my inbox when I got up this morning that explained a free service Verizon provides where I could block unwanted text messages. There are three options

1) Block everything coming from the web (including websites that allow you to text people)
2) Block everything from an email address
3) Block specific domains or specific email addresses (max 15)

Each text that I've received thus far (8 or 9 now) has been from a unique email address and domain--so while I would have preferred option 3--I've gone with option 2 for now. You can still find various sites to send me web based texts from but at least I won't be getting spammed.

I'm glad someone was on top of this so I could weed that out. How long do we think it will be before we have an Inbox, Mailing Lists, and a Junk Box for our text messages? Personally--I don't think it will be long.

Marianne's Illness...another other ladies' maladies

M pointed me today to a news story from the BBC entitled Why heroines die in classic fiction. It's a light look at what might have actually caused the serious illnesses that are described in works of the past.

As we have gained Pickwickian syndrome from Dickens, it obviously does us good to at least consider the symptoms described. I would have liked to see a little more meat to this article though. It rushes through the diseases possible and gives one only a glancing suggestion at what might have been wrong.

Still, it's good to know more was wrong with Marianne than wet slippers.

Sunday Quiz: Late and Southern

I do apologize. I was with M for the weekend and I forgot that I was supposed to have a quiz for y'all's enjoyment.

Countdown to end of my time at current library: 3 days. Moving in to the new apartment: 5 days. Percentage of stuff packed: 15% (if I'm lucky)

But in between picking out my china pattern (finally and if you get a cream or white option--I want the white) and establishing that I do need a china elephant creamer (apparently he's worth about 5 times what I paid for him--cool!), I have managed to scour out an appropriate quiz.

Your Score: Dixie Royal

You are 87% true Southern!

You are pure belle or gentleman! You know your Jones Soda, Nehi and RC colas, your Moon Pies and sweet potato pie; you'd absolutely die without air conditioners in the summer, and you've seen Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes (or read the book!). Your grandmother lives in an antebellum home and has a cook who makes the best fried chicken and asparagus casserole and summer squash and everything else in the world. And you know the taste of honeysuckle and the feel of grass between your toes.
You are blessed.

Link: The Southern-ness Test written by gwennykate on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Reference Question from Atlanta on Line 1

It was a bit of a long day today but the usual pattern of getting stuck behind the circulation desk because we're short staffed again was broken up by an unusual reference question.

M called. She's a former coworker who utilized me and my research skills to all kinds of degrees when I worked for/with her and still makes use of having a good friend with an MLS under her belt.

Today's question came from the editorial department of some people who, considering the word "Library" is in the name of where they work, might have thought to call their own reference desk before calling long distance. But apparently that doesn't occur to those types, who rang Atlanta instead.

The issue at hand was a 95 page password protected PDF. Apparently this editorial type was calling M on a last resort to see if SHE could crack the file before they brought in a temp to transcribe the 95 pages. M, being the sensible and practical woman that she is, took a few shots at cracking it and then called me. Did I know of anything?

I recalled that the National Library of Medicine recently started putting up a PDF converter tool and that I had chucked it into my del.icio.us list--to be brought up at just such a moment. DocMorph anyone? Only--that creates PDFs, not reverse. Okay, no problem. While introducing M to del.icio.us and getting her totally hooked on the idea of browsing through my favorites, other's peoples favorites, etc etc-- she chose one of the PDF converters. I'm looking for the link but I can't find it and it's too late to call M and ask tonight. Perhaps in the morning.

She had the file unlocked and transferred to Rich Text Format in about five minutes.

I asked her to provide the following response when she sent it back to them and they exclaimed "How did you do it?" : "I called my librarian."

And I saved them a 95 page typing job. That was my reference service du jour.

Moment of wow.