I already know I'm a nerd,

but I decided to take this quiz anyway.

You are 83% geek/nerd.

You game, you know your computer, and you aren't a noob. That's always good. So, did you check out the latest Ctrl+Alt+Del? Funny, eh?

How geek are you?
Take More Quizzes

Busy as Usual

The last few months have been full of activity, starting with a great visit from my dad and stepmom, who flew out from Hawaii to spend Columbus Day weekend with us after visiting my brother in upstate NY. We took them to Calico Ghost Town, where Joseph had a blast entertaining everyone. He couldn't stay away from the live music - he seemed compelled to get as close as possible and dance to the beat. He ended up with two strands of Mardi Gras beads and a lace-trimmed hankie from some fancy ladies.

The college has changed to a compressed schedule, which is okay for most classes, but it cuts our rehearsal time in the music department. We only had 6 weeks between our fall and winter concerts. I think we did a pretty good job in spite of the lack of time and the change of venue (they're revamping the performing arts center, so we're using the Church of the Valley). We had the Hermitage Singers from St. Petersburg as our guests for the fall concert - they were excellent. Jacob enjoyed talking with the bass - his English wasn't good, but it was better than Jacob's Russian.

I've just been put in charge of the teen anime club here at the library. The staff member who ran it before was probably too young to be seen as an authority figure, and the teens ran roughshod over her, so she threw in the towel. I don't blame her. I'm sure some of the kids won't like me, but I think I'm mean enough to turn the group around. We're taking the month of December off, and I'm spending the time researching anime and manga - I know a little, but I'm not an expert by far. Jacob and Rachel have agreed to help me out - they're addicted to the stuff, and even know some Japanese. I've signed up with Tokyopop and ADV films to get ideas. I'll probably watch a few anime shows and read a few mangas over the next several weeks.

I bought an inexpensive lathe at Rockler on my birthday, and have been having lots of fun with it.

This is a picture of my second project. Joseph really likes it. I've made two more since then. Jacob and Rachel are learning to use the lathe as well - Rachel especially likes turning the captive rings.

Word Nazi confirmation ...

I took this simple little test -

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Trip to Catalina

Brian and I finally got to take a short vacation the weekend of 9/8-9/11, to Catalina Island. We spent 3 nights at the Hermit Gulch campground, just up the hill from Avalon.

We left home at 7:10 on Friday the 8th, after squabbling with Jacob over who would drive. Arrived at the boat dock at about 9:25, got our tickets, and were in line at 9:30. The line was long, and because we were near the end of it we were lucky to get two seats together - the worst seats on the boat, facing backward with no table. The people sitting around us were friendly, however, and the ride was smooth and fast.

We arrived in Avalon at about 11:00, got off the boat, and walked around a bit looking for a place to eat. I checked into hiking permits, but it turned out we didn't need them because we had campground reservations. We ended up eating at Antonio's Pizzeria (the original) - Brian had a club sandwich and I had the lasagna. The garlic bread was the best I'd ever tasted.

After lunch, we hiked up to the campground. The hill was not very steep, the packs were not too heavy, and it was only 1-1/2 miles, but we were tired when we got to our "cabin". I was rather disappointed with the tent cabin, especially after staying in a much nicer one at Big Basin. This consisted of a wooden platform with a large canvas tent erected on it, and six canvas cots inside - no mattresses. Brian laid down for about an hour, then we made our beds (we had to sleep separately) and walked back down to Avalon. We looked at the stores for a while, trying to find a good deal on t-shirts and other gifts to take back home.

Here's the outside of the "cabin" --

and here's the inside --

We had dinner at Mr. Ning's Chinese restaurant. It was just as good as we remembered it from 10 years ago. We ordered shrimp chop suey and lemon chicken, which had strips of ginger laid across it. After dinner, we shopped some more. Brian bought me a nice zip-up sweatshirt, and we found a magnet made of tile for Brian's mom. We had a heck of a time finding one that was actually made on Catalina. We also got Joseph a rubber duckie.

After the stores closed at 9:00, we headed back up the hill to camp. On the way up, we saw several deer, including a nice buck, on the golf course. The campground was crowded and noisy when we got there, with a large group of Tongans nearby. It got quieter after 10:00, except for the loud snoring guy and the baby in the site next to ours who cried a few times.

We had originally planned to hike into the interior on Saturday, but Brian wasn’t sure if he could make it in his sandals. Instead, we walked to Avalon for breakfast, which we had at Antonio's Cabaret on the waterfront. We sat outside on the deck, which hung over the water, all by ourselves. There was a seagull and a couple of pigeons looking for a handout. The seagull was really cute - he'd sit on the railing behind me, slowly sneaking up on me, until I turned my head and looked at him - then he'd scoot back a couple of feet and start the whole process over again. I had a little paper cup with half a ball of butter in it, so I put that up on the rail to see if he'd pick the butter out of it - instead, he ate the whole thing, cup and all! Brian thought he was going to die, but he seemed fine and even begged for more.
Here he is after his "breakfast"--

We looked in a few more shops after breakfast, but didn't buy much. We walked out on the green pleasure pier and looked at the boats - some guys had gone fishing and caught a 185 lb. marlin. Big fish! I don't know if they kept it or not, because we saw it tied up to a barge later.

We ate lunch at the Channel House - too expensive for dinner, but the lunch prices weren't too bad. We both had sandwiches - Brian had hot pastrami and I had a meatball sandwich. Pretty good and lots of food. Our table overlooked the sidewalk, and we had fun people watching. The fashion police would have had a field day with the lumpy old lady in a metallic hot pink French-cut bikini, high heels, and way too much makeup - the restaurant patrons sure did.

After lunch, we walked out on the breakwater to watch the outrigger canoes come in. When all but the last few stragglers were in, we looked around in the museum store and took some pictures of the murals at the front of the casino, then walked over to Descanso beach to see what was there - looked like mostly the party crowd. We headed back to Avalon and got some ice cream at Big Olaf's, and sat by the beach and ate and watched people, boats, and birds for a while, then looked in the shops again.

We had dinner at Mi Casita - Brian had a burrito, and I had chicken tortilla soup and a salad, since I'd been eating way too much on this trip. After dinner, we headed back to camp, which was still quite noisy and crowded with rowers and support teams.

When we got up on Sunday morning, one of the Tongans was sleeping on our picnic table. He finally woke up, and Brian asked him if they made him sleep there. I felt sorry for the poor guy - he had no pillow or sleeping bag. We had granola bars and juice in camp for breakfast, then walked to the Wrigley Memorial 1/4 mile up the hill - unfortunately, it was $5.00 each to get in and we would have only had an hour to spend there. We walked around outside the gate and read the names of all the plants that were labeled, then headed down to Avalon. We walked out on the pleasure pier, then sat by the beach and looked at boats until time for church.

At about 9:40, we headed to the Catalina Bible Church. We got there at 9:45, so we had time to chat with the pastor's wife and some other members before the service started at 10. The church is very small - there were only about 25 people there, including several visitors (no children). We were not impressed with the music service, since they use a karaoke-type setup along with a bass player, organist, and drummer. The organist plays for the casino on the weekends, and the drummer has a band - both of them are excellent musicians. The pastor's wife (who is also the song director) wants to get rid of the canned music when they get a lead guitar player, but we think they've got enough already. The sermon was okay - the pastor uses the same approach as Jon, preaching verse by verse, but covered a whole chapter. Brian thought he used too much extrabiblical material. There was a fellowship time after church, with coffee, tea, and snacks, and we had a good time talking with people.

We went to Vons to get batteries for the camera and string cheese and fruit for lunch, then sat in the city park to eat. There was a baby shower going on - we had fun trying to figure out who the shower was for, since there were several babies and pregnant women there.

After lunch, we hiked partway up Mt. Ada, stopping at an overlook to take pictures. There was a big stone bench on the edge of the cliff, and a passing hiker offered to take our picture sitting on it. Unfortunately, the bench was covered with graffiti, which spoiled the effect. The view of Avalon and the harbor was beautiful, though. We saw a doe and her fawns on the way back down, and took some pictures of them as well. Here's the view from the overlook --

We rested on a bench down by the beach after our hike, and talked with some backpackers who had hiked with a large group from Two Harbors. It was interesting to see the variety of backpacks they had. Most of them were much newer than ours, with internal frames and ergonomic designs, but there was a blue one just like Brian's, and couple of other "classic" frame packs. I think I'm going to have to either replace the straps on mine or get a new one, because my hip bones were sore after only a 2-mile hike.

We looked at the menus at several restaurants before deciding where to eat, since it would be our last night there and I wanted to eat someplace nice. We decided on El Galleon, since they had a pretty good deal on local swordfish and the decor was interesting. It seems that at least 4 restaurants in Avalon - El Galleon, Antonio's Pizzeria, Antonio's Cabaret, and Mi Casita - are owned by the same people, and we ate at all of them (and they were good). Anyway, I had fettuccine primavera and Brian had the swordfish, which he said was the best fish he'd ever eaten.

We did our final shopping after dinner. Brian got me a mug that said "Smarty Pants" on one side and said I had to use it at work. We hiked back to the camp - there was a horrible rock band playing at Bird Park, but fortunately they quit before we went to bed. The camp was practically deserted - maybe 1/10 of the spaces were being used.

The campground was quiet Monday morning, so we slept in a bit. We packed up our stuff, then headed down to Avalon for one last breakfast out. Several people asked us about our backpacking trip - we gave up explaining that it was just a short hike.

We got to Joe's Cafe about 10:15 and had French toast. The service was quick, but the food wasn't as good as Antonio's. We walked over to the boat dock, where there were only about 10 people ahead of us in line. A woman in line screamed, "Oh my God! Look at that!" There was a pelican trying to eat a fish that was way too big for his pouch. It was quite entertaining. A guy kept trying to help him, but he never did get it down. He finally spit it out and sat there looking dejected. He didn't even seem to care about people petting him. I felt sorry for the poor bird - he was obviously a young one, with a little down on top of his head.
Here he is with the fish in his pouch --

The trip back was much less crowded. We got better seats this time, though not the ones we'd hoped for, with the window in front of them. Since it was the 5th anniversary of 9/11, there was extra security, including several members of the Coast Guard who rode with us. It was quite uneventful, of course, and we made it back to Long Beach only a few minutes late. Jacob picked us up at the curb, and we met Rachel for lunch at a Burger King outside of Ontario Mills mall.

Sorry about the long hiatus ...

... but life's been a bit bizarre around here. I won't go into detail about the situation, but Caasi has left Jacob and is living with her parents. Jacob has full custody of Joseph, however, and he still lives with us.


Joseph took his first steps on Monday, and celebrated his first birthday yesterday. He's such a happy baby, and so easy to take care of. We got him a 6'x6' playpen, since our house isn't exactly babyproofed, but he doesn't spend all day in there. He'd rather be out with us. As you can see, he likes peanut butter.

Jacob got a new musical instrument. It's a Chinese instrument called a gu zheng, the ancestor of the koto. It has a few more strings than a koto, but can be tuned the same. It sounds a little like a harp. He bought it at the Claremont Folk Music Center after he sang there last month. Jacob's performance was rather interesting. When he got up to sing, he asked the audience if they would rather hear him sing in French or in English, and they all said "French!" so he let loose with "Si la Rigueur" from "La Juive," an opera written in 1835. They were impressed, though I'm not sure the crowd was ready for that. Jacob says next time he'll probably do something by Johnny Cash.

We just got back from enrolling Rachel in Platt College, located near Ontario Mills Mall, about 40 miles from our house. She'll be commuting there 4 days a week, and taking Unix at Victor Valley College on Fridays. The admissions director really liked her art portfolio, and is going to have it evaluated for a possible scholarship. That will help a lot, since this is not an inexpensive school. She'll also be able to transfer quite a few units from VVC, though the music classes won't transfer.

More pictures of Joseph

Well, here are some more recent pictures of Joseph, as I promised. He's getting cuter and cuter every day.

He loves to "help" his daddy work on the computer -

I just love his smile!

Open Mic II

Well, Jacob and I went down to the Claremont Folk Music Center on Sunday. He did a solo on "There's a Man a-goin' Round Takin' Names", then we sang together on "I Know the Lord Has Laid His Hands on Me". My singing was okay, I think, but I kept having brain freezes, so there were a few long pauses at the beginning of the verses. We got to stay to the end this time, since neither of us had to work on Monday. There were a few really good performers, some that were pretty good, and a few that were really bad, like the little girl doing her string exercises (very poorly) on the violin. Then there was the guy who played his guitar so hard that it was completely out of tune by the second song. Jacob thought he was funny, but I was just annoyed.

After helping to put the chairs away, we went to In 'n' Out for a late dinner, where Jacob ordered a 6x6 and sang opera while we waited. We headed up the hill and got to Hesperia at about 11:30 - Rachel, Matt, Justine, Aidan, and Caasi were playing games. I ended up taking Joseph home, leaving Caasi to spend the night there. I didn't get to bed until almost 1:00.

Cute animal quiz

I took this quiz on someone else's blog - don't know how accurate it is, but it's fun:

You Are A: Puppy!

Beloved by all, puppies are energetic, playful, and loving. Your outgoing and friendly nature is part of what makes you a puppy. Known for their loyalty, puppies make great pets for young and old alike. And an innocent puppy face can melt anyone's heart!

You were almost a: Monkey or a Pony
You are least like a: Chipmunk or a GroundhogWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Seems like I never have time ...

... to post during the week! Oh well, here goes another one of my week summaries -

This was another one of my six-day workweeks - I get those every third week, in exchange for a three-day weekend the following week. Unfortunately, this one included a useless meeting 50 miles away in Fontana, and a health and safety fair on Saturday in the same town. I had to have the bookmobile at the fair site by 7:00 a.m., which meant leaving my house before 5:00 a.m. Anyone who knows me can understand what a hardship that was for me! One of the teen volunteers, Reece, and Rachel helped me, which was a good thing, because we had over 750 visitors to the bus. I ran out of books to give away at 1:30, and people were still coming in 20 minutes after the fair officially ended at 2:00. At least they fed us well - they even brought burritos, drinks, and frozen smoothies to us. Several kids came back just to play and hang out, and one little 6-year-old spent most of her time on the bus. Rachel had made coloring pages of the bus to give out, and some of the kids left theirs behind - I'm supposed to save them for the county librarian.

Other than the health and safety fair, my week was pretty much normal. Rachel picked Betsy up at the airport Thursday morning - she really enjoyed herself in Hawaii, but she was glad to back at the library on Friday. Joseph has gotten good at crawling and pulling himself up - he's getting harder to contain. He really likes eating "big people" food - no baby food for him, we just grind up whatever we're eating. He especially likes Italian food. I would post a picture of him, but Jacob's been messing with the computer and I can't find anything right now. I'll get some up here as soon as I can.

Jacob and I are working on a few more songs to sing at the Claremont Folk Music Center's next open mic. He wants to do "Dere's a Man A-goin' Round Takin' Names" and "I Know the Lord" (with me singing backup), both as performed by Paul Robeson. Fortunately, Jacob sounds a lot like him, so it should work well.

Pictures of loft bed, etc.

Well, I promised I'd post a few pics of my loft bed, so here they are:
I finally finished it on Saturday, after a week of putting up with it half-done.

Last week was the county fair, and I volunteered in the spinning and weaving booth on Wednesday and Friday nights. Wednesday night was really slow - Mary (the lady who has been running the booth forever) and I spent most of the night talking - we couldn't see putting on a demonstration for each other. Friday was much better, but I thought it was still slow for a weekend. Anita and I spun while Mary tied on a new warp. Jacob was there with Shenanigans, and he sang a few songs for our friend Richard and his pioneer group that was demonstrating across from the community building where I was working. Brian brought Caasi and the baby, who was a big hit with all the women they came across.

After working in the booth, Jacob took Caasi home while I got a henna tattoo across my lower back. Brian held Joseph while we walked around and shopped - I had to let the tattoo dry for at least half an hour. It still wasn't dry after 45 minutes, but I was tired and wanted to go home, so I drove all the way home (25 miles) without leaning back. My arms were killing me by the time I got home, but my back was dry by then. Unfortunately, most of it came off in the shower Sunday morning - it was supposed to last at least 10 days.

Rachel, Brian and I went out for lunch Saturday at Rachel's favorite Italian restaurant. The food was okay, but the decor was really interesting - it had a firehouse theme, complete with old-time fire engine. Matt came and picked Rachel up after lunch, and Brian and I went to Home Depot to buy some more stuff for the bed so I could finish it. When we got home, Jacob was working on his car, so Brian went out to help him and I finished the bed and moved all my clothes under it. Finally, I have room for everything and I can get to it without climbing over junk.

We celebrated Mother's Day by visiting Brian's mom in the San Fernando Valley. Nearly everyone came over - Kent, Joleen, Amy, Moss, and all the kids. Jacob and Caasi weren't there, however - they had taken Joseph to see Caasi's folks, who babysat while Jacob took Caasi to the Outback Steakhouse to celebrate their anniversary. Rachel and Matt joined us later after visiting Matt's grandma in Fontana. We watched "Gone with the Wind," which Brian had never seen. Justine, Brian's niece, gave a running commentary on how awful Scarlett was, while her mother defended her. We had a lot of fun with the discussion. I was impressed with how good the cinematography was for the time (1939) - it looked like something much more modern.

Another busy week ...

... and more to come! We sent Betsy to Hawaii on Wednesday - she was so excited to visit our dad and stepmom, and to go sightseeing on the big island. She'll be there for two weeks, which should be long enough to see most of the island.

On Friday, which was supposed to be my day off, I had to attend a "focus group" meeting at a nearby library. We brought up a lot of good topics, but I don't know if anything will actually change. It was good to know that the employees of so many other libraries in our county system are experiencing the same problems with admin. I met Brian for lunch after the meeting - he had dropped one of the cats off at the vet to get spayed, and was doing some window shopping. We had lunch, then he took me over to the new Home Depot. I was impressed - at least 5 employees offered to help us. Customer service seems to be a higher priority at this new store. We picked up the cat, then Brian took her home and I went back to Home Depot to buy parts for a loft bed I've been wanting to build.

We spent the whole day Saturday building the loft bed. We actually got it nearly finished, and were able to sleep in it that night. We both decided it needs more bracing and better handholds for the ladder, so we're going to work on that. Also, we didn't feel like rearranging the bedroom right away - that will have to come later.

We took the day off on Sunday - just went to church, grocery shopping, etc. Jacob spent several hours pulling the engine on his 1990 Geo Prism - he's getting tired of paying for fuel for our Suburban.

Yesterday I took 3 hours off to make up for the meeting on Friday, so I spent the morning rearranging the bedroom the way I want it. There's still a little more work to do on the bed, so I haven't moved all my stuff under it yet - it's going to be my walk-in closet when it's done. I'll post pictures of the bed when it's finished. That bed is really heavy! I probably spent an hour moving it across the room, an inch at a time. Who needs to go to the gym?

Wow - busy weekend!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while (if anyone's actually reading this) - I just haven't had time. The last several days have been completely full.

I spent Thursday evening at Anita's, where she fed me dinner and we spent a few hours spinning and yakking. I had gotten her a Navajo spindle at an antique store in Jamestown (while Rachel and I were on vacation), and she spent the evening trying to learn how to use it. She actually had a few yards of decent yarn by the end of the evening. I'm glad I gave it to the right person.

On Friday, after a busy day at the library, the family gathered at the college for the bands concert. Brian is a member of the flute choir and the symphonic band, which were the first and last of four groups to perform that evening. The music was quite enjoyable, but there were some rude people behind us, letting their noisy small children eat chips during the flute choir's set. Rachel and I were rather irritated. Fortunately, the jazz band, the brass ensemble, and the symphonic band drowned them out. We were out quite late - I didn't get to bed until after 11:00.

Saturday, I had to get up at 5:45 in order to get the bookmobile to the High Desert Church for a health and safety fair. Two of our teen volunteers showed up to help out. It was a pretty busy day, after a slow start, and I counted 367 visitors in 4 1/2 hours. The weather has really warmed up, so I had people visiting just to sit under the air conditioner for a few minutes, including Sparky the Firedog, who I felt really sorry for. After the fair, I had a couple of hours to kill before my concert, so I finished the book I was reading and went to the college to take a walk. At the end of my walk, I saw a campus policeman and another guy poking at a snake on the grass. It turned out to be a large, handsome gopher snake, and after determining that it was quite mellow, I offered to take it out into the desert for them. The cop insisted that Animal Control was coming out to pick it up, so I gave up and went back to my car. By the time I drove back to the main parking lot, they were gone.

Our concert Saturday evening was a success. We sang several opera choruses, accompanied by the orchestra, and three of the sopranos sang arias. About half of us were dressed as opera characters - Rachel, Brian, and I wore our Ren Faire garb, and we loaned out outfits to three of the other College Singers girls. I wasn't able to use my music because of the way we were crowded on the risers, so on the few pieces that I needed hints on, I looked over the shoulder of the girl in front of me. I only screwed up once - I hope no one heard it. I didn't hear any serious mistakes anywhere. On Tuesday, we'll probably get to hear the CD of the concert - then we'll find out for sure.

We missed having Jacob there - he's got such a strong, confident bass voice that the other guys tend to lean on him. But he was busy working as the musical director for Shenanigans, a local youth performing arts group, and couldn't get away. We all went to see their final performance of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Sunday after church. It was surprisingly well done, both the acting and the singing. Jacob provided the voice of the book, as well as acting as sound man and special effects. After the show, we all went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream, then home.

Today, after basically having no weekend, I was back at work from 11 to 8. Fortunately, it wasn't a bad day - busy, but no problems. Right now, I'm sitting at home typing. Rachel's on the other computer typing up a silly story and reading, Jacob is alternating between playing the guitar and annoying me with the extra wireless keyboard he has set up to communicate with this computer, Caasi is sitting with Rachel, and Joseph is listening to his daddy sing and play. I'm waiting for Brian to come home from rehearsal. Oh, there's Brian now - and he's caught a small glossy snake. Caasi's not happy about it. And Rachel's all excited - the cats caught a male Wilson's warbler, and Rachel thought it was a mouse at first. She made quite a noise when it started flying.

Well, the bird is outside now, and the snake will be there soon. Everything's calming down, and I'm going to have dessert and get ready for bed - unless something else happens.

Excuse me while I rant ...

...but I gotta!

Last night, one of our crazy old coots, who I thought had moved away, showed up to use the computer. He had been on the computer earlier in the afternoon, and we have a policy of one computer session per day. He complained that the computer wouldn't let him on, and wanted me to "fix it." I told him he had already had his turn for the day. He kept arguing with me that he hadn't used his full hour, that there were computers available, the "other girls" let him on more than once, etc. I will usually bend the rules for someone if they really need to use it again and they didn't know the rules, and if they're polite about it, but none of these applied to him, especially the polite part. He asked me if I wanted his name so I could "turn him in" for trying to use the computer twice, and I told him we already knew his name. He walked away, then came back and asked if I knew his name because he had complained about me before (for basically the same thing). Anyway, he finally gave up and left.

Today, when I came back from the bookmobile, I saw him again, sitting at a computer. Fortunately, he didn't speak to me - he just walked up to the printer behind me and started drumming his fingers on the desk. I ignored him and continued working, but someone else came up and helped him. I would have printed his pages out if he had asked, but I wasn't going to reward rude behavior. I was so relieved when he left after getting his papers.

Open mic night

Last night, Jacob and I played hooky from church and went to the open mic night at the Claremont Folk Music Center. We got there 10 minutes early, and there was already a long line of musicians waiting. When we got in, about 16 people had signed up, but for some strange reason the #2 slot was still empty. Jacob took that slot, and we sat down in the back.

The first singer was a girl who works at the Folk Music Center, playing a folksy tune she had written. Jacob was up next - he played his classical guitar and sang "Old Man River." The crowd (about 40 people) cheered loudly when he hit the low note at the end of the bridge, and again when he finished. Several people came up and talked to him during the intermission. One lady thought he sounded like he should have been 7 feet tall and 500 lbs.

Most of the other performers sang and played guitar, but there were a few exceptions, including a guitar-accordion duet, a guitar-banjo duet, a dobro instrumental, and a harp. We wanted to stay until the end, but there were still several performers left to go at 9:30, and we were getting tired. We hadn't eaten dinner yet and we were an hour from home. We stopped at A&W and got bacon cheeseburgers and ate them in the car on the way home.

Koroneburg preview

Koroneburg was open to the public this afternoon for a preview of the actual festival, which starts next Saturday. I went there, along with Brian, Betsy, Caasi, and Joseph, to see how things were shaping up. The weather was cold and cloudy, but it didn't rain, for which we were all grateful. It was great to see that the rat races will be there this year - with a nice new booth. There weren't as many vendors open as I had thought there would be, so I didn't buy anything, but Betsy bought a couple of inexpensive daggers and Caasi got herself a new bodice. Joseph was a big hit, smiling at almost everyone, except a big guy with a bushy black beard (he seems to be afraid of black beards). I ran into my old college roommate, Ann, and her family - I hadn't seen them in at least 5 years, so that was a really nice surprise. All in all it was a nice outing, in spite of the cold weather.

I love the internet!

There are some great advantages to the electronic age. I was just reading my email, and came across a discussion in one of my Yahoo groups about a knitting book, Knitter's Stash, that sounded really interesting. So, I immediately logged on to the county library catalog, saw that there were 5 copies available, and placed my order. I will have it in my hands in a few days - for free! I couldn't even order it from Interweave right now - it's out of stock. Anyway, looks like a neat book - I don't know why I haven't heard of it before.

Bookmobile troubles and singing

Last week the generator on the bookmobile wouldn't start, so I had the mechanics at the county garage where I park it take a look at it. So, when I picked it up yesterday, they told me what the problem was and that it had been fixed. Trusting them, I took it out to the school - a 45-minute drive - and parked it. The generator started just fine - but the lights wouldn't come on. Turned out the mechanic had turned off the breaker while he was working on it, and had forgotten to turn it back on. Fortunately, I was able to find the switch and turn it back on. That's all the excitement I've had at the library so far this week.

On a personal note, there are less than two weeks until our first big concert of the year. My whole family sings with the Master Arts Chorale at our local community college, and on April 29th we'll be singing a variety of opera choruses and arias, accompanied by the college orchestra. My favorite one to sing is "Va Pensiero" by Verdi - I sing it loudly in my car when I'm alone. I'm really looking forward to the concert.

Vacation!!

Okay, this post is full of links because I'm too lazy to rewrite what's already been written by lots of generous people. Rachel and I just took a short vacation to central California's gold country. We spent Wednesday night in the National Hotel in Jackson, which has been in continuous operation since 1862. It was definitely vintage. My first impression was, "Hmmm, a sleazy biker hangout," and I wasn't too sure about the place. The first floor lobby was basically a smoke-filled saloon with plenty of unsavory types hanging around.

Our room was cute, though, and since it was near the end of the hall on the third floor it was pretty far removed from the noise and smoke below.

On Thursday, after a hearty breakfast at Mel and Faye's Diner, we looked in all the antique stores in Amador City and Sutter Creek. We had lunch at Tea Eras and dinner at Bellotti's. After dinner, we drove to the tiny town of Volcano, where we checked in at the St. George Hotel. This was a much classier hotel than the National Hotel, so we decided to stay two nights. The rooms there have names instead of room numbers - ours was called Twain Hart.


Friday morning, we woke up and had breakfast in the parlor, then set off to check out Daffodil Hill. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season, so instead, we headed back into Jackson to spend the day shopping - more antique stores! We had lunch at Fat Freddie's and dinner at Jose's Mexican Restaurant.

After another night at the St. George Hotel, and another good breakfast in the parlor, we headed home Saturday morning. We spent a few hours antique shopping (no, really?) in Angels Camp and Jamestown on our way home. We also stopped briefly in Columbia. Rachel was disappointed that it had been turned into a tourist trap - she likes the more natural look. I had to agree with her.

All in all, it was a great trip. I'm thankful to have a daughter who likes antique stores as much as I do (or maybe even more!).

Pictures of Joseph

Okay, here are some pictures of my grandson. He's 7 months old now, and cute as can be. He's obviously going to be a musician.

Library nutcase

Yesterday, one of our weirder patrons came up to the desk and asked me for a screwdriver. I asked him why, of course, and he said, "To take something off the paper cutter." I was incredulous. How did he get our paper cutter and why did he want to take it apart?? Anyway, he said he wanted to take off the little bar that goes across it because it was in his way. I told him no. Apparently he was using it to cut cardboard into squares. I still don't know who let him use it.

Today, he wanted to borrow it again while I was at lunch. When the reference staff wouldn't let him have it, he called the police! I can't imagine why he thought that would do any good (It didn't). The man is clearly insane. He calls himself "Pastor Larry," even though he has no church. For a while, he was giving out the library's phone number and telling people he had an office here, but we put a stop to that. He also went through a phase where he tried to get some of the staff fired (he failed), and even tried to write to the governor to ask for keys to the library so that he could come in and run it properly. He's been pretty quiet for the past several months, until this incident, and spends most of his time typing words from a concordance, in large font, all caps, one per line, in alphabetical order. No definitions or references, just words. Weird.

Koroneburg Renaissance Festival

Koroneburg Old World Festival 2006
April 29 - June 11, 2006
14600 River Road, Corona, CA
Click here for map.

Sound And Fury has vacated their previous “Southern California venue” and will be performing daily shows. They put on an excellent show.

FREE Weekend RV camping will be available for Patrons! (no hookups and no tents)

Persons in Costume can purchase tickets at $10.00 ea ($6.00 off!) until 10:30am and will be allowed to enter Faire at 10:30am (Faire regularly opens at 11:00am).

Finally, THE INTERNET ONLY PROMOTION. 2 tickets for the price of 1! This promotion is only available through this link. There is no hyperlink on any page within the Koroneburg.com web site to this promotion. Pass it on to as many people as possible. Click here for coupon.

Of course there is more event specific data at the Koroneburg website.

I should be an advice columnist

Today I felt like a cross between Dear Abby and Dr. Laura. It seemed like everyone who came to the bookmobile needed advice, on everything from getting a diagnosis for autism to dealing with blended families. I don't mind helping people with stuff like this, especially when I'm not too busy. And everyone was pleasant and friendly today, which was good because this stupid cold has me feeling rundown.

The Bookmobile

I work the reference desk on Mondays, most Fridays, some Saturdays, and Tues. - Thurs. afternoons. The rest of the time I run a special bookmobile for preschoolers and their families. I used to work only on the bookmobile, but when the grant money ran out I had to spend at least half my time working at the branch. I prefer the bookmobile to the reference desk - the children are so innocent and eager to learn at that age, and, because I park the bus at subsidized preschools where I can reach the underprivileged families, the parents are generally grateful to me for bringing the library to them. I don't charge fines as long as I get the materials back, and I bend the rules to get them a library card. Sometimes I feel schizophrenic - I have to follow a different set of rules at the branch.

Yesterday, I redecorated the bookmobile with flowers, bunnies, and baby animals, even though it doesn't really feel like spring. The wind was blowing like crazy - it was really rocking the bus. Surprisingly, it's not hard to drive in the wind, even though it's nearly the size of a school bus. I just have to keep the speed down.

Today, my friend Anita accompanied me on the bookmobile to one of the Head Start preschools to assist me with a RIF book giveaway. Last month when I distributed the books, it was a total madhouse. About 150 people visited the bookmobile in 2 hours. One of the patrons alerted me to the fact that some of my library books had been taken off the shelves. I got a few back, but couldn't leave the bus to chase after the rest. When I told Anita about it over a cup of tea at her house the next evening, she volunteered to help me the next time I went there. Anyway, yesterday's wind brought in rain and hail today, which kept the crowd down to a more reasonable size. That, combined with Anita's help, made things much easier. I think I'll invite her again next time I go there.

I'm coming down with a cold - sniff. I think I'll go to bed now :~{

Moving the pack rat's nest

Brian has a sister, Julie, who's deaf and nearly blind. She and her husband, Armando (who's deaf) were living in an apartment about 40 miles from us. My mother-in-law lives about 40 miles farther down the road. She was concerned about Julie's health and well-being, so she decided to have them come share her 4-bedroom house. So, we volunteered to help move them on Saturday. We knew that Armando was a pack rat, so we tried to rent the biggest U-Haul truck we could find. Unfortunately, the biggest one they had was only a 17-footer, so to appease us they gave us two days and 250 miles for free. We didn't think we'd need the two days, but it came in handy - God was watching out for us.

When we got to the apartment, we were pleasantly surprised to see Julie's friend B. there - he's also deaf, but sensible and easy to communicate with, unlike J. and A. We tackled the garage first - it was only a one-car garage, but stuffed to the rafters with boxes and furniture. We filled the whole truck, and hadn't even gotten to the apartment yet. Brian's brother, Kent, arrived with two of his daughters and their neighbor just as wew were finishing up with the truck, and we loaded more boxes into his van. Some of the boxes were filled with empty cat food boxes and other packages, most of them neatly wrapped. Why on earth would anyone want to keep that?!? We threw away as much as we could while we were loading the truck, but I didn't want to overload the dumpsters at the apartment complex.

We drove the truck down to Mom's house and unloaded it in her driveway. Rachel and Matt joined us there, and all the kids set to work opening boxes and sorting trash from usable items. The pile of stuff was overwhelming. We had left Armando back at the apartment to finish getting the apartment ready to load - we didn't want him to see us throwing his "prized" possessions away.

We left Matt with all the girls to continue sorting junk while we drove back for the second load. We got almost everything into the truck and Kent's van, but there were still a few pieces of furniture in the garage. Armando was quite upset at having to leave a few things behind, especially his collection of mirrors. He didn't seem to understand that he wouldn't have room in the new place for all this stuff. When we moved the furniture out, we found a couple of real pack rat nests and showed them to him. The apartment was filthy and the carpet will have to be replaced - there's no chance of them getting back their security deposit.

When we got back down to Mom's house with the second load, we put everything they would need into the house - dressers, clothes, medicines, toiletries, food, etc. and left the rest out on the lawn. Armando rummaged through the boxes, looking for treasures to save. We left there around 9:30 p.m., leaving the truck there and driving my car 80 miles back home. We went to bed around midnight, sore and exhausted.

On Sunday, we drove 80 miles back to Mom's house and started going throught the stuff, looking for things worth putting in the 10'x10' storage unit he was renting. Jacob and Caasi joined us today - we were glad to have Jacob's help, and Mom was happy to see her great-grandson. We loaded the furniture first, and anything Armando brought to the truck. The whole process was pretty painful for him - he was hurt and angry with us, even though we were spending our time, energy, and money to help him. We filled the truck, then took it to the storage unit. By some miracle, we managed to cram everything into the storage unit. We went back to the house and stuffed the rest of the junk into the truck, then took it back to our house, where we put the obvious trash into our horse trailer and the stuff that needs to be sorted into the garage.

This morning, I had to get up early to return the truck before I head to work, which is what I'm going to do right now. Work should be a lot easier than my weekend was.

They think we know everything

I work in a public library in a medium-sized town. I'm amazed sometimes at the things people think we can get or do for them. They're convinced we have supreme knowledge and resources. Last night, just before I left the library, I spent half an hour looking for an overhaul manual for a military jet engine. Not something you would normally find in a suburban public library. Barnes and Noble didn't have it either. He could have ordered it online for about $180.00, but he wanted it now.

Some other questions I've been asked:

"Can you get the blueprints for my house?" (Some people think everything's on the internet.)
"How do I fill out these tax forms?" (We're not even supposed to tell them which forms they need.)
"I have these microscopic worms all over my body. Can you tell me what they are?" (He drew me a picture - ugh! I didn't even want to be in the same building with the guy, but he wouldn't go away and kept coming back to library asking for me by name.)
"Is this the police station?" (Huh?!?)

I guess I should feel honored that people actually think I know so much, but mostly I'm concerned about the incredible ignorance that seems to be rampant these days.

Time to catch up

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted. Brian did get his new flute - a beautiful sterling silver Gemeinhardt 50th anniversary flute with open holes and a B-foot. He's still active in the flute choir at the college, and now has joined the symphonic band as well.

Jacob and his girlfriend had a surprise for us - in February last year they got married at the library, in May they had the big church wedding, and at the end of August they presented us with our first grandson. It was a little ahead of schedule, but he's a beautiful baby. As a result of all this, Jacob was thrust into the working world. He spent 3 months as a sign waver, took a few months off, and is now doing QA at a computer recycling facility. That may end soon - he just had an interview for a position as an elementary school music teacher. They're all living with us, in a big fifth wheel trailer in the front yard.

Rachel has been trying to find a career that suits her. After a few years as a music major, she spent a semester taking courses in child development, and is now studying computer graphics and animation. She loves the animation courses (we knew she would) and is seriously considering which way to go in this field. After a two month break from music classes, she's back to singing with College Singers and Master Arts Chorale - she just couldn't stay away.

My sister Betsy joined the family commune in August. She volunteers regularly at the library where I work, and is greatly appreciated there. When Jacob and his family get their own place, she'll get the trailer.

Okay, now I'm all caught up. We'll see if I can remember to post more often. I'll try to write about some of the crazy things that go on at the library.