Hamster tails, err tales

Continuing from below....

In college, for a bit, my ex and I lived in married students' housing. No pets were allowed. Well, no cats or dogs. You could have birds, fish, rodents, anything but a cat or dog. We were animal people. We wanted a cat. We settled for hamsters - the beige teddy bear hamsters that were so popular in the early 70's. We wanted a gerbil, but they were (are they still?) illegal in California. So, we got these two adorable hamsters and played with them constantly. We also had two tropical fish tanks, a canary, a parakeet, and two chinchillas. I told you. We were animal people.

The hamsters lived in this tall wire cage with a great wheel in it, and lots of steps they could go up and down. This was before Habitrails came out. I think we did eventually have one of those balls you put them in and let them roll all over the floor in. Anyway, these guys, of course, had kids - usually four at a time. We sold them to the local pet store. But they became really adept at getting out of their cage. The male would lift the door over and over and over again, endlessly. At first, it wasn't a concern because he couldn't lift it far - a quarter inch or so. But eventually he figured out how to open it and get a limb under it to keep it open for a second or two. The female caught wind of what he was up to. Next thing we knew, she was sneaking out under the door to freedom. We snatched her and put her back in the cage, figuring this was a fluke. Of course, it wasn't. They eventually learned how to get out of the cage together. We'd get up and find them in all sorts of places - in the laundry, under the bed, everywhere. We'd put them in the cage, try to figure out some way to keep them from lifting the door, and they'd find a way out.

Their cage was in the spare bedroom on the second floor, so finding them was pretty easy - there were only two bedrooms and a bathroom on the floor, and it was not a big place. One morning, I went downstairs to make coffee. I noticed that my small schefflera (umbrella plant)was knocked over. I went to pick it up, and saw that it was pretty much gone. What I mean is, something had eaten the plant to the stalk! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Mr. Hamster was scurrying around the living room. In another corner of the room was Mrs. Hamster. These two little rodents had escaped their cage and gotten down the stairs and were eating my plants. Now, the floors in this apartment were uncarpeted, old-fashioned asphalt tile floors everywhere but the living room, where there was carpet. The steps were slippery. We could not imagine how the hamsters had made it down an entire flight of stairs. So, we scooped them up, put them back in the cage, and decided to watch them. They had become so adept at escaping from the cage by now, that in a matter of seconds, they were out and headed for their veggie feast downstairs. It was then that we noticed the narrow strip of wood that lined the stairway on both side - sort of like the baseboard for the steps. These little rascals were scurrying down that strip of wood like it was the Bonneville Salt Flats. They were downstairs in seconds. We laughed like idiots. Being the starving college students we were, we couldn't afford a new cage, and the construction of the one we had pretty much precluded being able to lock the cage door shut, so we took the whole shebang to the pet store and sold them back to him.

Then there's the chinchilla story...but another time.

That reminds me....

Jon's post about the great hamster disaster of '69 made me laugh - and remember. It made me remember two stories, actually.

When I was in the 4th grade, we lived in a trailer park in Cathedral City, CA, outside Palm Springs. The hills behind the trailer park - the "Sage & Sand Trailer Park" to be exact - were nothing but rocks. No trees, no vegetation, just big rocky hills. This family of kids with whom we'd become friends had a really cool fort up in the hills. It was a cleft in the rocks, set back where two hills came together. It was really, really cool. So of course, we played Army and tried to take over their fort. We never succeeded. But what really sucked was that we didn't have a fort of our own. We were newcomers. All the good forts were already taken. So, in a gesture totally out of character for them, my parents hiked up into the hills with us and helped us build a fort. It was pretty bleak. It was basically a ring of rocks piled about a foot high, in the middle of the blazing sun, on the side of this rocky hill. We gussied it up (I'm using that word a lot today) by making "rooms" in our fort. We did this by dividing the big circle with "walls" of rocks piled about a foot high. It wasn't nearly as cool as our friends' fort, but it was ours. And of course, the other kids wanted it, so we had tons of fun playing Army and trying to capture each others' forts.

So, what does all this have to do with hamsters, you ask? Well, that year my mom decided to get us some white mice. Maybe she was using them for sex ed. I'm not sure what prompted her, because she wasn't big on rodents as pets, especially mice. Nevertheless, we had a pair of white mice. And before long, we had 10 white mice. I remember watching them being born. And like Jon's hamster, one of the parents decided to make a meal from some of the babies. But we rescued most of them by removing the offending parent (I'm sure it was the father mouse). Like most little kids, we four were enthralled with the mice. We carried them everywhere with us, played with them non-stop, the usual. But mice stink. I'm not sure if it was Mom or Dad who decided we'd had them long enough, but the time came to get rid of them. We four kids were crying and begging to be allowed to keep them. A compromise was reached. We could let the mice live in our fort - in the rock walls. We kids thought that was perfect. They would live there, we'd see them every day, feed them, etc. I don't know what we were smoking. I think I caught a knowing look pass between my parents, but didn't have a clue what it meant.

Off we went to release our little rodent friends into the walls of our fort. We played with them in their box for a while, then it was time to go home. We bid them goodbye, vowing to return the next day to play with them. I'm sure you can figure out what happened next. Lots of tears, and suggestions as to where they might have traveled off to when they escaped their rock-wall home, and several attempts by me for days thereafter to locate the mice among the rocks that covered the hills, all unsuccessful of course. My little 10-year-old mind imagined them all playing and scurrying about the rocks. My 52-year-old mind realizes they were probably some snake's or owl's dinner that very night.

I have a hamster story next.

Since I can't go home...

I thought I'd post. I am too blah to actually work.

I have eyebrow envy. I have these very skimpy eyebrows that disappear into my face if I don't gussy them up. It's a hereditary thing. My dad and my brother have half eyebrows. There is nothing from the middle, where the arch should be, to the end. Zip. Nada. Mine at least have a few straggly hairs. But a little eyebrow powder, and an angled brush do wonders, and most people who know me have no idea that my eyebrows are brushed on - until I go swimming. Then, my dirty little secret is exposed as I emerge from the water missing a major facial feature. I'm seriously considering having them tattooed on.

Since I have these pathetic eyebrows, I notice beautiful eyebrows, a lot. Gwen Stefani has great eyebrows. So does Paula Abdul. I noticed them both while watching a little of the most boring season of American Idol ever. I want beautiful eyebrows. I envy women with beautiful eyebrows. The Daughter has perfect eyebrows. I wish I had Brooke Shields' eyebrows because with heavy brows, you can have them waxed into the perfect shape. With non-existent brows, you're screwed. Candace Bergen has great eyebrows. I don't. And the problem with having to create eyebrows every day is, they're never the same twice. Some days they look great. Other days they're too thick, too skimpy, not arched enough. It's such a pain. Is it too much to ask to just have eyebrows like one of these three ladies? I think not.

I think I've caught Lorraine's flu

Tuesday morning, when I was at the workshop on wikis and podcasts, I wasn't feeling too well. During the morning section, I had the chills, and sort of ached all over. I just wanted to put my head down and sleep. When we went to lunch between the workshops, I ate nothing, just sipped some tea. I took a couple of Advil capsules, and within an hour, I felt great. I chalked it up to PMS or lack of sleep the night before. This morning, every joint in my body aches. I'm super tired and didn't sleep well at all last night. My stomach is unsettled, and I'm a little warm, although I don't have the chills. I have taken a total of 5 ibuprofen caplets so far, and I still ache. I don't know how long I'm going to last here at work. My dilemma is, I'm the boss today. Every other supervisor is gone. If there is some sort of patron issue, I'm the go-to gal. I would feel like I've abandoned ship if I leave. So, I'm sticking it out until noon. If I'm not feeling hella better by then, I'm going to go home and sleep all afternoon.

Spring Break = Rome, Florence, and Milan

Don't you wish you were a college kid embarking on Spring Break? When I was in college, Spring Break meant I could pick up more hours at the restaurant because I wasn't in class. I never got to go on any wild Spring Break trips. I had rent and bills to pay. Youngest Son, on the other hand, as you all well know, is in France, and tonight he embarks on his 9 day trip to Italy. He and five of his female classmates are leaving at 7:30 PM Paris time for Rome. The timing is perfect. It's supposed to snow in Paris tomorrow, but it should be sunny and breezy in Rome. While I would love to talk to him every night to hear about his impression of our native country, he'll be roaming on his cell, and incoming calls, instead of being free, will cost nearly 1 euro a minute, so calls will be limited to, "we got to Rome safely" or, "we have arrived at the hostel in Florence safely". I can't wait for photos.

Speaking of photos, he has uploaded about 250 photos from his trip thus far. His most recent addition was nearly 100 photos from Normandy, so click the link on the left and take a look (the hyperlink that says France Study Program, not the slideshow).

Now, off to the shower for me.

Is it Spring yet?

The calendar says it is, and today, the sunshine outside confirms the calendar's statement. Yesterday it was actually in the high 50's! Sadly, I was chained to my desk for most of the day, and never got to take advantage of the gorgeous day. Today I will remedy that situation. I plan to walk at lunch today - come hell or high water. I have to get while the getting is good. It's supposed to snow on Sunday and Monday. Yeah, you read that right. Snow. That's proof that it's definitely Spring. Spring is nature's nickname for schizophrenia.

Honi Kaua Wiki Wiki

Today I have been at a workshop - two actually. Workshop 1 was on podcasting. It's something we may start using at the library for storytimes, weekly announcements, etc. Workshop 2 was on wikis. Okay, this one is cool. I have actually started a wiki at the library on our staff page. What we did as an exercise in this workshop today was create a wiki of our own. So, I created, logically, "eclecticdefined wiki". Once I get something useful on it, I'll post the link. I MAY move it to a different wiki host. The place I'm on at the moment is okay, but the templates are way limited, and they want a monthly fee to get the cool stuff - $10 a month to be precise. There are other free options, which I will be looking into.

As for the post title, when I was a kid, my little sister was about 5, my uncle was an executive for Hertz. He lived in Honolulu. He visited the mainland often. He taught us the above sentence - "honi kaua wiki wiki" - which means "kiss me quick" in Hawaiian. My little sister's nickname was "Rikki". My uncle would say "honi kaua wiki wiki, Rikki" and she would wrinkle up her nose and run to him to give him a kiss. She became our trained pet. We took great pleasure in shouting "honi kaua wiki wiki" to her at the most random moments, and she would obligingly come running, face all squinched up, to give us a kiss. Very cute. So, I knew what "wiki" meant long before it became a cool tech thing. And, by the way, wikis are way, way, way cool!

Workshop is over, so now it's time for the long drive home.

Quickly

I have promised to finish this one computer project TODAY, so this is going to be really short. I have decided not to post on "hot" topics again. It just isn't what I wanted this blog to be about, usually. Unfortunately, most of my blog buddies are of the opposite political persuasion than I, so I am sure reading my thoughts, however thoughtfully I try to explain them, probably isn't enlightening or entertaining. In fact, it probably has some of them clenching their teeth and shaking their heads in frustration. I know that because that's how I sometimes react to some comments and posts on some of my blog buddies' blogs. It's okay that we don't agree on everything, but I want readers of this blog to laugh, to be entertained, to be uplifted, maybe enlightened, not to get all knotted up inside with frustration and aggravation, wanting to whack me over the head with the "come to your senses" whacker. So, no more political posts for me. From now on, it's all fun and games on eclectic defined! Enjoy.

Spring Things

My crocuses are blooming! I pulled away the dead leaf mulch that has protected them all winter to reveal their gold and purple blooms. I won't actually get to see them open until this weekend, since they are still closed when I leave in the morning, and are closed for the night when I get home. I love these colorful little welcomers of Spring. Soon, I'll see my Siberian Squill poke their little blooms up. The greenery of the daffodils and tulips is coming up - thrusting up through the cold, wet dirt higher and higher each day. Even our grass is greening up.

I was going to take a picture of my fingernails. I like to call my current look the "garden manicure". The dirt you get under your nails is so hard to get out, and who has time for gloves when you're doing some impromptu gardening as you're heading to the car on your way to work? So, my right hand has traces of dirt embedded under my nails, and the nails themselves are sort of ragged, while my left hand, which was holding my purse and cell phone during this little gardening moment, has nice, clean, smooth nails. So gauche.

This weekend will certainly entail some serious gardening, unless it snows, which has been known to happen in late March. Heck, it's been known to happen on July 4th! Anyway, I'm going to get all my pots ready, plant some actual seeds, put them in my actual little greenhouse, and maybe, for once, have my own pony packs to start my flowerpots instead of having to go buy them. Yeah, that's my plan. Let's see if it pans out.

(It was time to get off politics and controversy and back to more fun topics.)

I'm not trying to make waves

In a comment on my rant about politicians, and specifically regarding global warming, Sara referred to "the legimate (peer-reviewed) scientific evidence that is in overwhelming abundance", stating that, "It's a known tactic of these sort of groups and politicians [those who don't necessarily buy into the belief that global warming is anthropogenic]* to try and plant a seed of doubt in people's minds regarding the scientific validity. (see also, "evolution is only a theory!")"

Here is a link to a document listing numerous peer-reviewed papers that refute components of the global warming argument. Not all the scientists who disagree are quacks, funded by oil companies, whose works no peer-reviewed publication will print. I'm sure there are those who will quickly point out that the source of this list is the "infamous" Friends of Science organization, who clearly has an agenda. Duh. Who else is going to provide a list of papers refuting global warming theories than an organization whose agenda is just that? Does that make this list any less valid? Does it make the list less valid than one citing papers upholding global warming theories presented by, say, Greenpeace?

If one wants to take an informed stance on any issue, one must be willing to study both sides of an argument with an open mind. To often people claim to have read "the other side's position" and found it lacking, when the reality is, they've read it with the attitude that it's going to be bunk, and they scoff at any argument presented by the opposition viewpoint. I am really, really trying to understand this subject, so I am open to everything I can find on it. I am not going to automatically dismiss scientists who might be funded by oil companies in favor of those funded by environmentalists. Both sides have their biased points of view. I will try to discern their biases, try to determine who is funding their work, but I'll also try to find out as much about the scientist's background as possible to try to determine his/her credibility and standing in the scientific community.

In a lengthy, ongoing discussion on a LiveJournal blog on this topic, one with many, many comments by Tom Harris, the Executive Director of the NSRP, and during which he was NOT treated kindly at all, one of his most ardent detractors asked this:

"Would you be so kind as to present us with said list of the actual climatologists not associated with the IPCC who disagree with the findings of the IPPC FAR. I request just one more qualifier, - in addition to being actual climatologists (and not a geologist, or an engineer, or a broadcast meteorologist, etc.) - that they have recent, peer-reviewed papers on the subject of climate science in a journal which you will then cite."

This poster insisted that no reputable climatologist disagreed with the findings of the IPCC FAR. After being presented the above list, this poster said "I would concede some amount of skepticism is still out there."

That's all I'm saying....some skepticism is still out there among reputable climatologists. I'm trying to understand this issue as well as I can, so I'm not dismissing positions on either side of the issue just yet. I'm still undertaking research.

Oh, and as for Sara's comment meant to show how stupid it is to disbelieve in global warming by comparing it to those who are skeptical about evolution by saying "see also 'evolution is only a theory!'" - well, it is. The definitions of a scientific theory follow:

A comprehensive explanation of a given set of data that has been repeatedly confirmed by observation and experimentation and has gained general acceptance within the scientific community but has not yet been decisively proven. See also hypothesis and scientific law.
http://college.hmco.com/geology/resources/geologylink/glossary/t.html

And....A theory is generally only taken seriously if it:
is tentative, correctable and dynamic, in allowing for changes to be made as new data is discovered, rather than asserting certainty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory

And finally:
A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts. The theory of gravitation, for instance, explains why apples fall from trees and astronauts float in space. Similarly, the theory of evolution explains why so many plants and animals—some very similar and some very different—exist on Earth now and in the past, as revealed by the fossil record.
American Museum of Natural History

I suspect Sara was referring to those who use the term "theory" to mean "an untested hunch, or a guess without supporting evidence", and there are those people out there. Evolution is most assuredly not that kind of theory, but it is a theory.

I'm either boring, or....

I'm surprised by the lack of comments lately. Though, not really. I mean, how interested are most of my fellow bloggers in NCAA basketball? Obviously, not too. And the post this morning - well, I suspect some people just don't know what to say. That's okay.

I did "meet" a really interesting person, thanks to my post on Duke University. He has two kids who graduated from Duke, lives in CA, and is a really interesting fellow. We may even actually meet some day over dinner. And he's invited us to his new condo in Zihuatanejo when it's finished being constructed. Pretty cool, huh? I've always wanted to go to somewhere in Mexico other than Tijuana. Anyway, I'm not going to reveal his identity, but he's a really bright guy who has been instrumental in bringing some life-changing medical technologies to market. He calls himself a serial entrepreneur. He's quite well respected in that industry, and we'd never have "met" had it not been for my Duke post, so yay Blogger! Turns out we share the same opinion about the Duke lacrosse rape scandal/hoax/tragedy. That gave us lots to talk about.

I'll try to be more interesting/entertaining so my "fans" will return.

New France Photos

If you click the link to the left to "France Study Program" you can see a bunch of new photos from France. Youngest Son uploaded about 80 pictures today. Obviously, there are some photos that will be boring to people who don't know him or his classmates, but he's got some nice shots of Strasbourg and Paris. He didn't have time to caption them all yet, so you won't necessarily know what they're of. I tried to put captions on things I knew. Anyway, take a look.

I hate politicians

Rant Alert!

Why do I subject myself to cable news? I am sitting here talking to the TV as I listen to an idiot senator (not naming names) being interviewed. Okay, maybe idiot is a harsh and inappropriate term, but still. The topic is global warming. I don't purport to be an expert on this topic. I do think that all our emissions are not doing the environment or climate any favors, but how much of what's going on with the weather in the world can actually be attributed to them, I don't think anyone knows for sure. There are a multitude of hypotheses and theories being bandied about. The thing that got me aggravated this morning was this senator's response to the newscaster when he made the following comment, and asked the following question:

Newscaster: "There are extremists on both sides, and likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. How do you protect the environment without costing jobs in America?"

Senator: "Okay here's the deal: when you're dealing with science and fact and truth, it's not about going into the middle....you say 'who are the scientists who know what they're talking about?' and that's what I have to do." (Okay, what makes this senator qualified to determine THAT?) "I represent 37 million people in my state....this isn't an issue where you split the difference....when you're dealing with science, when you're dealing with life and death, you don't split the difference, you find out what the science is..." (Again, this senator's qualifications in sifting through the varied opinions by respected scientists on this topic are what?) Note, the question has not been answered.

Newscaster: "and there are debates among scientists about the science"
Senator: "no, not really." (No, not really?!?!?!)

This senator then went on to accuse the newscaster of "echoing James Inhofe", who has called global warming a hoax, and gave no credibility whatsoever to the fact that there is a debate among scientists about global warming. The newscaster made it clear that he was not calling it a hoax. That didn't appease this senator, who kept reiterating that there are "1000 scientists who have come out with the IPCC saying that now is the time to do something about the climate." And yet there is this: "...there is no evidence that we are, or could ever cause global climate change. Recently, Yuri A. Izrael, Vice President of the United Nations sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed this statement." - Dr. Tim Ball.

Who is Dr. Tim Ball?

"Dr. Tim Ball, Chairman of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project, is a renowned environmental consultant and former professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Ball has served on many local and national committees and as Chair of Provincial boards on water management, environmental issues and sustainable development. Dr. Ball’s extensive science background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition, make him the ideal head of NRSP as we move into our first campaign, Understanding Climate Change. His extensive public speaking experience and presentations to professional societies, business conferences, public forums and a wide variety of public, private and non-profit organizations make him the ideal spokesperson for NRSP as well."

Again, I am not taking a position in this post either believing or disbelieving in global warming. I'm just pointing out that there IS disagreement in the scientific community - respected, renowned scientists, not crackpots - on the topic. What makes this senator qualified enough to determine which scientists "know what they're talking about"? I suspect it's those who agree with the senator's position. Politicians!

The other reason I hate politicians is all this crap that's going on in Congress. Look, if you're a Democrat, you are thrilled to smithereens that the administration is finally "getting their due." They're being called on the carpet for all their suspected misdeeds. Heads are going to roll. Democrats are ebullient. News flash. Do you not remember when the shoe was on the other foot, back when Newt and the gang finally wrested control of Congress away from the Dems, and went after Bill, Hillary, and their cohorts? You all cried foul, loudly and frequently. Republicans were gleeful. Dems were pissed. They complained about all the time that was being wasted on subpoenas and hearings that were nothing more than witch hunts. But now that they are the ones issuing subpoenas and holding hearings, it's justfied, it's about time, it's necessary. Please. It is ALL just politics as usual. Both sides. I'm sick of it.

Politicians are, on both sides of the aisle, self-centered, money-grubbing, slime bags who only care about making themselves look good so they can get re-elected, or get elected President some day. I know, I am such a cynic. I believe that they don't care about you and me. They only care about their perqs (yes, that is the correct spelling - short for perquisites), their privileges, their paychecks, their power, and little else. Okay, there are the few decent politicians, the ones who really do want to effect change, who really do care about their constituency. Sadly, they either don't last long on the national scene, or they turn to the dark side. All this hearing-holding, subpoena-issuing, finger pointing, is nothing more than politics as usual, and I'm sick and tired of it. DO SOMETHING important. Fix income tax. Fix health care. Stop trying to prove the guys on the other side of the aisle are the devil incarnate. Stop posturing. Please.

Oh, and Al Gore, before making a statement in his appearance before Congress this morning on global warming about "reaching across the aisle to solve global warming", refused to listen to the GOP's opening statements at that hearing. Yeah, that's really reaching across the aisle, Al. Maybe he was out buying carbon credits.

Rant Alert off.

Cat food scare

Yeah, I know you all know about the big scare, and yes, I emailed Lorraine about it and was glad to hear The Cat was not a victim of tainted food. What got me was that I had been feeding that exact stuff - the cuts and gravy pouch food by Nutro, and sometimes by Special Kitty, to my cat until a few months ago. I never thought I'd be happy about her puking, but the fact is, 1 out of every 3 times I fed her this food, she'd puke it up. I figured she just has a tender tummy and probably ate too quickly, but I got tired of paying 59 cents a pouch, just to have to pick it up off the floor a few minutes after she consumed it, so I stopped giving her anything but dry food. I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

The Daughter feeds her cat and dog both Eukanuba food. They didn't know about the recall until I told them about it. They inspected their cans, and they are not in the recalled batches, thankfully. When I mentioned how insane it is that we both were buying this expensive food - Eukanuba, Nutro, Iams - only to discover it's made by the same company that makes the store brands - WalMart's Special Kitty, Safeway's Western Family, etc. - my son-in-law got all defensive. He swears they are different foods, and that the vet recommended them so they must be better. And after all, what did the vet have to gain by recommending Eukanuba over Special Kitty? Yeah, okay, and I have this swamp land in Florida for sale. I'm sure he'll keep buying Eukanuba, convinced that it's superior to the store brands. My cat is sticking to dry food. I hope no more pets get sick or die. I told my kitty I loved her today, and she's been snuggled up to me all day. She's 10, and though that's not old for a cat, especially an indoor cat, you never know.

Bracketology

I'm not a big sports fan. I just live with one, and I raised one, so I am exposed to sports whether I like it or not. Generally speaking, I don't like pro sports, but who doesn't watch a little NFL football now and then, even maybe root for a sentimental favorite on occasion? And it's tough to escape the World Series, or The Masters, or Wimbledon. We live in a very sports-oriented society. I have my personal favorites among the various pro sports teams. I like the Seattle Mariners, but I also like the New York Yankees. I'm a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, even if they are supposed to be in Baltimore, and the Oakland/LA/Oakland Raiders (thank God they went back home to Oakland). My sentimental favorites will always be the San Francisco 49'ers and the Green Bay Packers - two teams who really would have to disband if they ever considered moving. Can you imagine the Los Angeles Packers or the St. Louis 49'ers? Seriously. But generally speaking, pro sports leave me a little cold.

I do, however, enjoy a little college sports on a fairly regular basis. I like college basketball and football, especially around playoff time. Heck, the football bowls are inescapable during the holiday season. Who hasn't watched the Rose Bowl at least once? And March Madness has overtaken television. All my favorite shows are on hiatus while the NCAA tournament is being played. As I mentioned below, I like Duke a lot, as does The Spouse. My oldest son is a diehard Tar Heels fan (U of North Carolina and Duke's arch rival), and has been since he was about 8. It makes for some interesting banter between The Spouse and him during basketball season.

The oldest son likes fantasy sports, and participates in a fantasy football league each year. This year he got us involved in a contest they're having on espn.com. He setup a group, and had each of us create our brackets for the tournament. You pick who you think will win each matchup, all the way to the championship game, and put in a score for the final game as a tie-breaker. While you're doing your bracket, you can't see what the other people have put in until the day the playoffs start, at which time, all the brackets are locked and no changes can be made. Obviously, that's so you can't go copying someone else's bracket. Well, I put my bracket in all on my own. Some of my picks were based on things I've heard commentators say, some on what I've seen when I've been forced to watch games, some on sentimental reasons, and some were just outright guesses. The Spouse and Son made their choices based upon their keen knowledge of many of the teams, their players, records, etc. Some choices were sentimentally driven, but most choices were based upon facts. You can enter up to five brackets. The Spouse and I entered one each. Son entered three. After the first day of play, The Spouse and I were tied for first in our little group - and we were 100% - but Son's three brackets were not doing so well. One bracket was at 10%, the other two were at 20 and 40%. I, who knows nothing, was kicking Son's butt!

Friday, The Spouse and Oldest Son were in attendance at the first round in Spokane. They got to see Winthrop beat Notre Dame. The Spouse went on and on about how good Winthrop is, and how he hopes they beat Oregon. We hate Oregon in this neck of the woods. They also saw Oregon play Miami of Ohio; Texas, with their phenom, Kevin Durant, beat New Mexico State; and USC beat Arkansas. The Spouse commented on how gorgeous the Winthrop and the Oregon cheerleaders were. Of course. He also commented on how differently attired the cheerleaders from the West are from those from the South and East. The Southern and Eastern cheerleaders donned the classic cheerleader outfits, while the Western cheerleaders showed a lot more skin with very low cut and high rise tops, belly rings, super short skirts, and such. Interesting. Today, they are at the second round, where Winthrop will take on Oregon, and USC will take on Texas. The Spouse just called. They are down on the floor as the teams are warming up, and he is astounded at how big these kids are. He said it makes him glad he's not a college kid wanting to play basketball, because he's a shrimp next to them. He said the girls are even more gorgeous close up. Of course. Play starts in an hour. I'm glad they're having fun.

After yesterday's play, my bracket is down to 52.9%. I picked Duke to go to the third round. They didn't. I picked Gonzaga to make it to the second round. They didn't. And another sentimental choice, I picked Washington State to advance to the third round, where I had them losing to Georgetown. That won't happen. But I did pick Xavier to win in the first round, and they did. And I've picked Tennessee to beat UVA, and they may well do that (it's 64-59 with 3 minutes left). Another risk I took was picking Memphis to go all the way to the finals, where they'll lose to UNC - highly unlikely they'll get that far, but it was a gut thing. So, I'm caught up in bracketology, and it's kind of fun.

Duke basketball - always winners

Even if you don't follow sports, if you live in the U.S. you've undoubtedly heard the term "March Madness", and by now, you know that it refers to the NCAA basketball playoffs, not the crazy weather for which March is known. I have to admit to getting caught up in this annual event for the past few years. I live with a man who went to college on a basketball scholarship, despite the fact that he's only 6 feet tall, and white, and we all know white men can't jump - except that he can. Still. At age 57. But that was also back in the dark ages - before the Michaels, the Lebrons, the Shaqs, the Kobes. It was back when most college basketball teams were populated largely by skinny, white guys, barely over 6 feet tall, in short, tight shorts, Converse All-Star sneakers, and really high socks. In that setting, he did well. He couldn't even warm the bench on one of today's teams. The athletic ability of the kids today is unbelievable, both the men and the women.

But I have some issues with college basketball. It's great that sports opens doors for so many kids, provides them with an education they probably couldn't afford otherwise, and even gets some kids to consider a college education when that may have been the last thing on their minds. The thing I don't like about Division I basketball and football (they're the ones giving athletic scholarships), is that in more cases than not, education takes a back seat to the sport. Far too often, a phenomenal high school basketball player gets a scholarship to one of the college basketball powerhouses, like University of North Carolina, goes to school for one year - until he's eligible for the NBA, (they can't go right out of high school anymore), then heads off to play pro ball. Or they play for two or three years, until they get the press that makes them worth more, and then go out to play in the NBA. These kids are not getting an education. They have nothing to fall back on if they get injured. They've usually been coddled all through school because of their athletic prowess, so they have very few skills that will help them make a living doing anything other than playing basketball. It makes me sad and angry. And it's not much different for the football players. They don't usually go pro until they're at least juniors because they need to mature physically, but all too many turn pro without getting a degree. These are the guys involved in night club shootings, attempted murders, drug arrests, and all around bad behavior. It's a sad commentary on our society.

And then there's Duke. Duke basketball's Coach K - Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced shi-shev-ski for those who have no clue) - is an amazing human being. His personal story is pretty inspirational. Beyond that, he is one helluva coach. He recruits a specific type of kid - not just the McDonald's All-American. He recruits kids who want a college education, who have future plans and goals outside of basketball, who have good values and morals, and who know how to be a part of a team and are not grandstanders. His players graduate more often than not. They may not go on to be the NBA stars, the Lebron Jameses or the Kobe Bryants, but they do go on to be doctors, business leaders, coaches, and teachers when their NBA careers are over. While in the NBA, a lot of them are role players on the team - they're the guy who helps the star be the star. They make the assists, they set the pick, they play defense. In a world populated by tattooed and pierced thugs out partying when they're not playing, making headlines for negative behavior, the former Dukies are quietly raising their families, playing the game, and preparing for their futures. Not everyone can get into Duke. They have rigorous standards for acceptance, even for star athletes. And despite the scandal of the alleged rape by the lacrosse team members (don't even get me started on that whole thing), I still have the utmost respect for the school, its leadership, and especially Coach K. This has been a tough year for Duke basketball fans. The team is young. They've had a very tough year. And for the first time since 1996, they were knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the first round. Despite the loss, the kids have won. They're getting an education at one of the finest schools in the country, and have been coached by one of the finest coaches in the country - a man who coaches not only players, but men, and it's highly likely that every one of them will graduate from Duke. That adds up to a win in my book. Now, my bracket? It's not looking too good at this point, but that's another post.

Food for Thought for Lent

Lorraine, over at Here's The Thing, wrote a really thought-provoking piece on Lent. It made me a bit wistful for my Catholic roots. One thing I miss about Catholicism is the ritual, the tradition, the history. Practicing Catholics - not those folks who claim Catholicism as their religion, but those who live it - have all sorts of celebrations that we Protestants don't. And while it may seem silly to some, those celebrations help bring the focus of one's life back to Christianity. Whether it's celebrating a saint's day, and in doing so, remembering what made that saint saintly, what sacrifices they made, what their significance to Christianity is, or observing Lent, and walking through that desert along with Jesus, fasting, praying, denying ourselves, those traditions help make one's Christianity real and meaningful. That is not to say we non-denominational Christians don't strive for the same exact things, don't observe the same notable occasions, albeit differently - we do. It's just different. I don't know a lot of my Christian friends who pay a lot of attention to Lent, who give up stuff, who go into the desert for those 40 days preceding Easter. Maybe I know the wrong people. I know I have only given Lent a passing thought, and boy, could I stand to give up a few things - like food for one. Lorraine's post made me think about my faith, my relationship with my Lord, my relationship with people around me, and how much more I could be doing to show His love and His grace to them.

In addition to Lorraine's post, I received the monthly newsletter from Whitworth College not too long ago. The President of the school, Bill Robinson, is a really incredible man. The school would not have the character and atmosphere it has were he not the President. Each month he writes this newsletter - and it's not something he whips out in an hour folks. This is a really great newsletter. He begins it with a sort of monologue that almost always makes me cry, and never fails to make me think. And since we're on the subject of Lent, here's an excerpt from this month's newsletter that is right in line with Lorraine's post:

• This is the first Sunday of Lent. At once, I am grateful and dumbfounded by God's grace. I am not, however, in church. I had to travel today because I was home yesterday watching our men's basketball team win the conference championship. So I admit to feeling a little more basketball happiness than Lenten contrition. I do, however, have one Lenten thought. Just before I started writing this, my iPod vaulted ruthlessly from 22 sacred choral arrangements to a decidedly non-sacred song about chasing women. Today's text in the liturgical calendar is Matthew 4, Christ's temptations. It struck me that Satan's opening salvo was not tempting Jesus with something bad (like chasing women) but with something good: bread (whole wheat, no doubt). Jesus liked bread. He turned a little of it into lots of it when 5,000 people were hungry. He honored it as the food to memorialize his broken body. We're probably less prepared to resist the temptation of good things than that of bad things. But good things for the wrong reasons can compromise us. Good things in excess can weaken us. Good things at the wrong time can distract us. Good things beyond what we need can deceive us. Good things outside of our calling can divert us. Often the "mission drift" of an organization moves in the direction of good things. As you probably know, we will become Whitworth University in July. With that change will come temptations, most of them in the form of good opportunities. But good is bad if it compromises our calling. We need discernment in the next few years. We need to be faithful. Jesus knew when good was bad. So must we. Keep us in your prayers.

Wow, how good is that? It's really comforting and reassuring to me to know that this man, this regular guy, father, husband, servant of Christ, is in charge of educating our kids - my kid, our future leaders, the nation's hope. I know I am often tempted by good things - and often fail to resist that sort of temptation. Bill's comments have given me much food for thought, as have Lorraine's. I've got to run. I'm late for Lent.

Because I Promised Rosemary

I have been a bad blogger again. It's been a week since I've posted. Rosemary sent me a hilariouos email chastising me for my bad blogger etiquette, so here I am. What, pray tell, has kept me away? Busyness.

Thursday night, in advance of a day off Friday, I made sure to run all the various patches on our servers necessary to thwart the impending computer doom and gloom that is the DST change. Sling reported that he was being peppered with questions by his freaking out coworkers about the early onset of DST. Same here. I was the one back in 1999 saying "nothing is going to happen", but no one believed me. I've been saying the same thing about the DST change. That didn't mean there weren't tasks to complete in advance of March 11 in order to make sure there were no problems; there were. But it also didn't mean that if I hadn't run those patches everything would come crashing down on us. In a couple of instances, the updates for the Outlook calendar on a couple of staff workstations wasn't run, so appointments were off by an hour. Big deal. I ran the fixes on those yesterday. And in once case, I manually set the computer clock ahead. Wow! What an amazing techno goddess I am! Sheesh. But there was one glitch for which I was not prepared, and it is what has kept me away.

We use the Sharepoint services app that is built-in to Windows Server 2003 for our staff website. That website has our meeting room calendar, tutoring room calendar, and a host of documents like our policy and procedures manuals. It also has an IT trouble ticket creator that is used by the staff to report computer problems to me, and in which I track resolutions, etc. When I went to run the DST patches on this machine, I realized there is an updated version of Sharepoint Services available. We were running 2.0 and now there is 3.0. So, I downloaded 3.0 and proceeded to run the update. There were a few preinstallation procedures I had to run first. So, I did all that, installed the update, went to look at our site - and got nothing. I read all the documentation to see what was going on, thought I figured it out, but still nothing. I finally realized that the entire website was gone. Vanished. Wiped out. These sites are "virtual" websites, so they're a little different than our public website, with a folder and actual html files I can edit using any number of tools. At some point during the upgrade, I managed to wipe out the existing virtual website. So, most of the weekend evening hours, the time I usually spend blogging, was spent rebuilding the website. I will say this much - the new version is greatly improved, and includes a lot of features the old one did not, but what a royal pain in the you-know-what. We're still "missing" some documents, and the meeting room calendar has not been rebuilt yet, but most everything else has been recreated in the new, improved format. Still. And I have yet to figure out why we can no longer access it from offsite, despite the fact that the firewall redirects to the proper server. That is something really weird for which I have no solution thus far.

My cat is limping. I don't know if she hurt herself jumping off the bed or counter or something, or if she's just getting old and arthritic all of a sudden. She's 10. Not old, really, and she's always been very agile. But she's been limping for two days, and I'm a tad worried about her. She is a bit tubby, despite the fact that she gets only dry food. In fact, I think she's fatter now than when I was giving her a can of wet food every morning. I stopped with the wet food because about every other day she would puke right after eating it. I decided maybe she was allergic to something in it. She was also scratching a lot more, albeit with her clawless paws, but scratching nevertheless. When I took her off the wet food, her scratching diminshed greatly. And the puking stopped almost completely, with the exception of the hairball-related puking, which is expected. In fact, The Spouse, on his way to the bathroom this morning, stepped in hairball puke. He was not a happy man. At this moment, my cat is sprawled on my lap, sound asleep, forcing me to type with the laptop on the arm of the sofa. Sure, I could move her, but she's been limping. You know how it is.

Youngest Son has been much cheerier lately. He got his griping off his chest, and is now back to enjoying himself, despite the heavy class workload. He, one of the other boys, and the girl he hangs with the most (not in that way - she's getting married in July), went to see Blood Diamond. It was in English with French subtitles. He said it really makes you think, then went on to ask me if it's absolutely necessary to get your fiancee a diamond when you get engaged. It's such an American cultural thing. I guess the girl said she would always wonder if her diamond is a conflict diamond, but she still wanted one. Apparently, there is almost no way to know for sure if a diamond is a conflict diamond or not. In addition to the movie, they had recently watched a CNN International show on conflict diamonds, where it showed a guy easily selling a diamond in NYC to reputable dealers, no questions asked. Not a topic about which I know very much, but one a lot of us will probably know more about if we see the film.

YS and the girls he's going to Italy with over Spring Break, called me in a panic the other day. They had just purchased their train tickets for the trip, and found out they couldn't get a reservation for Friday night, but rather had to leave Thursday night instead. That meant they needed a place to stay for one more night. They had booked a hotel in Rome for the exorbitant price of 784 euros for two nights. I had tried to talk them into a hostel on the ocean, about 30 minutes by train from downtown Rome, that was much cheaper, but they didn't want to change their plans - until they needed a third night's lodging. Suddenly, that hostel looked very appealing. So, me being the ever helpful mom I am, got online and booked the hostel for them. Now, three nights of lodging, breakfast included, will run them just 24 euros a night each - more than half as much as two nights at the hotel was going to cost them. And the hostel is on the Mediterranean! What more could you ask for? They actually paused for a moment when I told them they had a 30 minute train ride to the city, but seriously, you do that twice a day. Big deal. It's worth the savings.

Given that they were in the cost-cutting mode, I found them an equally wonderful hostel in Florence for 288 euros for two nights for the six of them versus the hotel they have booked at 600 euros. Four of them are all for it. Two are leaning toward just staying at the hotel. Clearly, those two are not paying their own way. Mom and Dad must be footing the bill, or the opportunity to save 56+ euros would make it a no-brainer. Not only is it cheaper, the reviews said it has "the best breakfast in Italy", and it has free internet. The hotel has no internet. The hostel is maybe 6 blocks from the hotel, so it's not a location issue either. They're foolish not to make the change. We'll see. One girl is going to try to "sell" the idea to the other two.

Turns out YS could have flown to Rome from Paris, and then back from Milan to Paris, and bought tickets for the Rome to Florence and Florence to Milan sections, for half what his train ticket for that trip cost. The train ticket ran 300 euros - over $400. The airfare plus train would have run about $175. Live and learn. They are going down in a sleeper coach, so that will be fun, but still.

It's sunny out, but cold. And this DST change is not going over too well with me so far. I was liking the fact that it was light at 5:30 AM. It made me more energetic in the morning, my most difficult time of day, and more likely to go to the gym. Now it's dark again. Ugh. Yeah, it's cool that it's light later, but I'm making dinner, or often still working, at that time of day this time of year, so I don't really get to enjoy the later daylight hours. I read an article the other day that said the DST change might aggravate SAD in those who have it precisely because we rely on the rising of the sun to set our clocks for the day, and suddenly we're plunged back into a sunrise time that is the same as back in February. I guess if you live somewhere like So Cal, and you can take advantage, weather-wise, of the longer days, it's a great thing. But here in the Northwest, where it's still cold, often snowing or raining, and not yet conducive to being outside in the evenings, it's not all it's cracked up to be. This morning, it was 28 out at 5 AM. There is frost on everything. It's not really spring yet. Soon, but not yet. Yesterday, while I was out taking a walk at lunchtime, it snowed on me and walking partner. The wind kicked up and it got really cold. Today I'm taking my ear muffs for my walk.

The Spouse and Oldest Son are going to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in Spokane this weekend. Ticket price? $250 each from a season ticketholder who didn't want to go, so decided to make a couple hundred bucks by scalping his tickets. It's a lot cheaper than the $900 one set of two tickets went for on eBay. If you were a season ticketholder, they only cost $145 each. Crazy. But The Spouse and Oldest Son are basketball fanatics, and seeing Texas and their phenom, Durant, play in real life will be a great experience for them both. Father-son bonding time? Priceless.

Le Pantheon, Notre Dame de Paris, Le Tour Eiffel

How's that sound for a travel itinerary? Youngest Son visited the Pantheon in Paris yesterday, the Eiffel Tower the day before, and today will visit Notre Dame. The Eiffel Tower was, of course, incredible. He asked me to look up the height of the Space Needle (605 feet) and compare it to the height of the Eiffel Tower (1063 feet). He said you are so high that everything below is so small it's difficult to make things out. He said from the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe is tiny, yet just the day before, as he stood at its base, he was amazed at how big the Arc was. Perspective.

The trip to the Pantheon was an optional trip, and one taken only by about a third of the class. He thought they were going on a shopping excursion, so didn't take his camera. Was he ever upset about that when he realized where they were going. There are some great pictures of the Pantheon on Wikipedia, so I got to see what it looks like. He was intrigued by the Foucault Pendulum and how it keeps time, as well as the murals on the walls. The Pantheon is where Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Emile Zola, Braille, and both Curies are buried, as well as many other notable Frenchmen. Madame Curie is the first, and thus far, only, woman buried there. You can only be buried in the Pantheon by Parliamentary decree. It has an interesting history, and is a really magnificent structure. He is really glad he went on this excursion.

Today, the entire group will visit Notre Dame. YS was surprised I knew as much about the cathedral as I do. He forgets I was an art major, which means taking a lot of art history, which means learning about architecture, which means learning about the great gothic cathedrals, of which Notre Dame is one. Not to mention, I read a lot, and who hasn't read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or at least seen the movie starring Charles Laughton? Obviously, YS hasn't. He asked me what the big deal was with flying buttresses. So I had to give him a small lesson on architecture, and the cathedrals in France wherein flying buttresses are employed (Chartres, Reims, Notre Dame to name a few). I think he'll get to visit Chartres, and maybe Reims too. Anyway, can't wait for his review of Notre Dame later today when we talk. He has a boatload of photos that he promises he will upload to Webshots this weekend. He said his classmates are dying for him to upload his photos because he has taken some really great photos of them all. He is a really good photographer (not just a mom saying that - his photo prof said he was "gifted"), and has a knack for capturing things from unique perspectives.

He gave his presentation to the class on The Bastille yesterday. He hates public speaking, so was dreading this presentation, but apparently, it went quite well. His next big project is a paper on Seurat, Chuck Close, and pointillism and divisionism during the art portion of the course in April. He is to be the expert for the class on that style and those artists, so he's got some reading to do. I happen to be a big fan of Seurat, so I sent him off with some books on the style and artist. He'll do just fine. The prof for the current section realized the workload he had been giving the kids was a lot heavier than he'd thought it would be (5 hours of reading a night, an hour journaling on what they'd read, and then presentations daily on which they had to journal), so he changed things a bit, making it a lot less daunting and freeing up time for the kids to go out and experience Paris. YS is very relieved, as are the other kids.

The Spouse bid his vacation for next year. The fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31, so that's the time period for which he has to bid vacation. So, he'll have the week of July 4th off, didn't get Thanksgiving week (he's 5th on the seniority list and 3 people had bid that week by the time it got to him, and 3 is the max that can be off at one time), got the 3 days after Christmas, and then the last two weeks in May 2008. He has another week to bid in the next round, then 8 individual days (the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because they fall during his vacation weeks). But with the last two weeks in May 2008, guess what my plans are? PARIS BABY! I'm going to plan a trip for us to France, maybe Scotland again too. He can bid the first week in June 2008 in next year's vacation bidding, so we'll have three weeks of vacation in a row, so we're definitely going to go to France. I have to start planning now. I can't wait!

Well, off to the salt mines. Adieu!

Another day older and deeper in debt

Okay, not really deeper in debt, but I am another day older. And officially, another year older. Fifty-two. It sounds so old! But it doesn't feel old. Weird. I am supposed to be a grown-up by now, but I so don't feel like one a lot of the time. I feel like the college version of me is trapped inside this aging body. Actually, since this version of college me has 32 years more experience, I hopefully wouldn't make a lot of the same, dumb decisions the original version made. Hopefully. It really is like the song says; "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." But the fact of the matter is, and I know all of my fellow "grown-ups" know what I mean, I still feel like that 20 year-old kid in my head. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was living in Santa Barbara, going to UCSB, and making plans for the future. Where did 32 years go? One of The Spouse's favorite movies is Meet Joe Black. (Yeah, he's really a softie.) He loves Anthony Hopkins (who doesn't?). Anyway, when Anthony Hopkins is giving his speech at his retirement party he says, "65 years. Don't they go by in a blink?" Truer words were never spoken.

I was reading Lorraine's post about how meeting one person in your life who can set you on a course you may never have followed had you not met them. It got me thinking. I'll bet we all have a person like that in our lives. Maybe several. What it made me think of most, though, was my best friend in high school. She graduated early, got married, had a kid, and we lost touch. When my 30 year reunion rolled around in 2002, and I heard she'd be there, she was the only one I really cared about seeing. When I saw her standing in line for food the second night of the reunion, I knew her instantly. She looked exactly the same - same hair, same figure, same smile. She didn't recognize me right away; it took her about 30 seconds to realize it was me. No glasses, not quite so dorky, and definitely not as skinny as I used to be. But as soon as she knew it was me, and we started talking, it was as though the 30 years we'd been apart didn't exist, and we were back in high school again. She kept saying, "gosh, it's you!" and I knew exactly what she meant. Unfortunately, like Lorraine and her friend Muffin, though we started out keeping in touch, she stopped replying to emails, didn't call, and the contact ended. It's hard to maintain a friendship when you're 1500 miles apart, and your lives are so different. But for a couple of days, I didn't feel 47. I felt 17 again. I could have run off to Avila Beach to bake in the sun with Marsha, just like we'd done dozens of times so many summers ago, talking about boys, classes, teachers, and parents, plans for college, plans for life. Instead, we talked about children, spouses, former spouses, paths taken and not taken, jobs, parents, and the past. When we were 17, we had no past to talk about. At 47, we had lots of past to talk about, At 52, I have even more. And I guess that's what birthdays are about - looking back for a bit, assessing our lives, reviewing lessons learned, remembering precious moments and people, and then looking ahead, to all that awaits. I don't necessarily wish I was 20 again, though I'd love the body I had when I was 20. This one is getting kind of worn out. But I do wish I could talk to that 20 year-old me, tell her some stuff I've learned, tell her to finish college, tell her to make the most of every minute. I'm not sure she'd listen, though. What 20 year-old does? Instead, I'll make sure that 52 year-old me knows that stuff, takes it to heart, and makes the most of every minute of every day, at least as often as possible. That's my birthday present to me.

Happy birthday to me.

Hump day updates

Yesterday was staff meeting day - oh, wait, it's now called "Library Team Meeting", not staff meeting. I'm the permanent notetaker for these meetings because I am the fastest typist on staff. I take notes on the laptop, then upload them immediately after the meeting to the staff website so that those who are not in attendance can read them. I try to type what people say verbatim, which is relatively easy until I am the one who has to speak. Yesterday, I had to give a demonstration to the staff on how to setup the LCD projector in the meeting room. We often have groups hold meetings during which they would like to show a Powerpoint presentation or play a DVD. We have an LCD projector we make available to these groups, and I'm the one who always has to set it up for them. The Boss wants more staff members to know how to do that, hence the demonstration. Naturally, I couldn't take notes while doing the demo. Then I was asked a bunch of questions. I can't type and talk at the same time (imagine that), so my answers don't get typed. I usually type the question, then go back later and type in the answer.

Today I have a technology committee meeting, the focus of which is going to be RFID. The 3M rep is in town to give us a presentation on RFID. Some of us have had this presentation already, and are all for moving to RFID ASAP (like those acronyms?) But there are always those who have problems with technology in general, and RFID in particular. They think people will be able to tell what patrons check out by employing an RFID reader and reading the signal emitted from the materials the patron has with them as they leave the library. Get real. The RFID tag will only have a barcode and a status (checked out/not checked out) programmed into it. They'd need our database to find out what title has that barcode. No patron info will be attached to the tag. For as close as someone would have to be with the reader to read the tag, it would be easier to tell what someone was checking out by just LOOKING at the stuff the patron was carrying! Anyway, today's meeting should help dispel some of these concerns.

The technology committee's role is to recommend or not recommend the implementation of RFID technology to the full board of trustees. If we recommend it, the board will vote on it, and we will budget for the implementation - or not - depending upon their vote. RFID tags would allow us to check in and out multiple items at one time, and it makes keeping the shelves in order amazingly easy. I really hope we go for it.

Tomorrow is my birthday. My best friend and I will go out for lunch at the establishment of my choice. I will get a lot of nifty cards from coworkers, and a few gifts. My family will celebrate it this weekend. YS will call from Paris. It will be a great day. The snow is melting, the sun is sort of shining. Spring is just around the corner. Life is good.

Paris Rocks!

Just a quick post. Work looms. YS is in Paris and during our phone call said, "I've had more fun in two days than in two weeks in Strasbourg!" He's been to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre at night (not inside), and to the Sacre Coeur, all within the first 48 hours! He and one of his roommates, Stefan, set out to find the Louvre the first night they were in Paris. After about a 45 minute walk, they stumbled upon it. The next day, they had their orientation to Paris and the Metro. They were split into pairs and sent off via metro to find a specific monument. YS and his friend, Corina, had to find the Arc de Triomphe. YS said the metro is a lot like the Tube in London, so it was a piece of cake for him. He has a great sense of direction, too. They got out of the metro station, looked around, and there was the Arc. There are 12 lanes of traffic that go in a circle around the Arc, and YS and Corina decided they should run across them all to get to the Arc rather than use the underpass. They ran across laughing and screaming, arriving safely at the Arc, only to see two gendarmes standing there watching them, heads shaking as if to say "idiot tourists!" They loved it. But it was early Sunday morning with very little traffic. Later that day, when the whole group went to the top of the Arc, they saw people crossing with tons of traffic. Now those were idiot tourists! After the trek to the Arc, they went to Sainte Chapelle. On Saturday they went to the Pompidou Centre, and just walked around. Today was the Eiffel Tower. So, yeah, Paris rocks!

The new DVR - pros and cons

Con - it is not a TiVo. DirecTV severed their relationship with TiVo so they could hawk their own wares. It's so disappointing. TiVo rocks, plain and simple.

Pro - The new DVR holds up to 100 hours of programming and keeps up to 90 minutes of "live TV" in backup.

Con - The TiVo constantly records 30 minutes of live TV on both tuners. When you have DirecTV with a DVR, you have two tuner inputs, so you can record two channels at once. With the TiVo, if you are watching one channel, whatever channel the other tuner was last tuned to is also being recorded. What's cool about that is that you could literally watch two shows at once without having to be recording for posterity either one of them. You just press the "Live TV" button to switch back and forth between the two. When you press the "Info" button, you see the detailed info about the show you are watching, as well as what's on the other tuner. You can even pause the one tuner (for up to 30 minutes), watch in real time on the other tuner, and switch back to where you paused the other tuner. The new DVR only records "live TV" on the tuner you are watching, so unless you've selected to record something other than what you're watching, you can't switch between two tuners. That sucks.

Pro - When you switch to the guide, or to pretty much any menu option, it puts the show you are watching into a picture-in-picture sort of window, so you can still watch the show and navigate menus, the guide, whatever.

Con - you have to move a slider to TV and then hit the power button to turn the TV off or on, then switch back to DTV to change the channels on the DVR. With the TiVo, there is a separate TV power button that just turns the TV off and on. This won't bother me, but The Spouse will hate it. He already hates that he has to learn a new remote.

Pro - we can now record 4 shows simultaneously.
Pro - the new DVR has caller ID, so I can see on the TV screen who's calling, and don't have to find the phone and try to read its miniscule readout.

Summary - Having had a TiVo, I miss all the features I've become accustomed to. Someone who has never had a TiVo probably won't care. And some things are better than TiVo, but I'd have preferred a TiVo over this DVR if I'd had a choice. At least I still have the TiVo in the bedroom, so I can pretty much have my cake and eat it too.

The poor installer - he had to go under our house, which is a really nice crawl space with a light and all, but even with our sump pump running almost non-stop, there was still about 4" of water on the ground in part of the crawl space - the part he had to go into to install the multi-switch. He was wet and dirty, and I felt really bad. And once he got all the cables installed, and we turned stuff on, one cable in our bedroom was not providing a signal, so he had to go back down there and replace one of his connections. Ugh. It took about 2 1/2 hours. I spent the next hour reading the manual and programming the DVR. Then I went out and shoveled snow for half an hour, in the dark. Fun. Not.