Bridge to Terabithia

Watched Bridge to Terabithia, what an awful movie. I thought it would be a fun movie to watch...boy was it a downer. They killed off the only good character in the movie. What's up with that? From now on I am sticking to low brow, and bathroom humor.

Pickles, the root of all EVIL?

Pickles are evil. Nothing good has ever come form pickles. I'm thinking of making the eradication of all pickles in the world my life's work. Who puts pickles on a chicken sandwich? I'll tell you who...idiots, that's who.

Countdown

Only one day left until The Office season premier!!!

Bad day of football

Nothing else interesting happened to me the rest of the weekend. Spent the day Sunday watching football and unfortunately the Redskins lost, and the cowboys won. You would think that the Cowboys would be considerate enough to lose as well. How rude.

Another disappointing event was that Donavan McNabb had a fantastic day against the Lions. It is disappointing
because he is my Fantasy Football Quarterback and I benched him after two very dismal weeks.



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Now playing: Mötley Crüe - Looks That Kill
via FoxyTunes

Been a long time

I promised a co-worker that I would update my blog so here goes my week end so far. As a word of warning my blog will now have a bit more colorful language, and some of my opinions of how annoying people people can be, since my project for work is over and now I can write about what ever tickles my fancy. Of course I am just as qualified as anyone to be able criticize people, I can be just as annoying as the next person.

Went to a basket bingo on Saturday night, my second in a month, except the police were not involved in this one (no further comment as I don't want to incriminate myself). I didn't win one god damned basket! But I did win 2 door prizes, a $10 gird card to a local restaurant and a gift bag of Teletubbies merchandise (who knew they were still popular) and for the record La La is my favorite Teletubbie.

La La wearing his best Tutu

Here are some of my other observations from the bingo:

• The basket walkers were really annoying...ti was a couple of middle schools girls and they were racing around with the baskets like they would get a prize for walking around the room the fastest. I was hoping one of them would fall down just to make the night interesting
• Going to bingo, it is not like going to the prom. Someone was actually wearing a prom dress, and she looked like a ho...a ho for sho...plus VPL...come on what were you thinking?
• Tattoos on women are fantastic...but lose the Chuck Taylor All-Stars, wear something that will compliment them, unless you are actually going for the skanky look.

That's it for now...going to watch football. Go Skins!!!



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Now playing: Brooks, Meredith - Bitch
via FoxyTunes

At it again

Just got back from another run and it felt FANTASTIC!!! Running is much more fun than walking, my long walks were kind of boring, now with running I can cover the same distance in half the time. Nothing is better than hitting that runner's high just at the point where you think you can't go any farther, and then feeling like you are running on air, incredible. I never got that feeling when I was walking. I can't believe it, at this rate I will be up to 30 minutes non-stop in about 6 or 7 weeks. Just in time for the weather to start getting colder, nothing is better than running in cold weather. I will take that over heat any day. I will soon need to buy a new pair of running shoes I've got a lot of miles of walking on my current pair.

I have always wanted to run in the Main Street Mile in Westminster, if anyone from CCPL would like to join me perhaps we could start a team. We would need a clever name, something like Running with Books, The 796.42s (Dewey number for running), or Bibliotathletes. Of course I am getting ahead of myself, I need to keep up with my running first.


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Now playing: Spinal Tap - Bitch School
via FoxyTunes

Running Again

I have started adding a bit of running to my exercise routine again. If you recall I had some problems with my left foot, not the movie My Left Foot, but my actual foot. After I began running back in May I started have lots of pain in my foot, well after several months of just walking I have finally started running again. Just for a few minutes here and there during my daily walks, and I feel great while I am running. I wasn't planning on running last night on my walk but half way through it started to rain so that helped make up my mind (I still got drenched though). Hopefully I will be running full time (30-45 minutes a day) in the next few months.

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens

Week 9, Thing 23

Wow, I cannot believe that I have finally finished. I found that the 23 things were a valuable exercise. It gave me an opportunity to explore several things that I never would have tried in the past, like bloglines and del.icio.us. I really enjoy blogging but what will I blog about now? I guess I will have to think of something. While creating avatars was fun, I found that it could be very time consuming and I don't know if I will use them to much in the future. What I really enjoyed was image generators and of course youtube. While we didn't spend a great deal of time on each thing, I believe that it was valuable to at least spend a little bit of time with them so that if were are asked about them we do not stare at our customers blankly. Would I do it again? Heck yeah, and I look forward to the next incarnation, perhaps "Maryland Learning Libraries 3.0" would be a good name, please feel free to use it with the Original Craigster's blessing. Plus it will give me new fodder for my blog.

Maybe I will blog about monkeys, I love monkeys, God bless them, with their furry little faces and their opposable thumbs, sitting in their trees, eating their bananas...

Week 9, Thing 22

I really enjoy Overdrive, and I think that it is a great service that the library provides for its patrons. I have use it occasionally and have checked out several books. It's simple to use and browse and the number of available items continues to grow. I particularly enjoy the "recently returned" list of items, I have often found items on the list that I wouldn't normally have searched for or checked out, and been pleasantly surprised by them. I must say that I an not a big fan of the ebook, yet.

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcasts are not for everyone, I myself enjoy them. A lot of people probably find it too much like listening to the radio, which it is, but the variety of items available to listen to is astounding. But you don't have to just listen, you can also watch.

One of my favorites is TV Squad Daily with Brigitte. As many of you may know my hobby is watching TV, and YES I do consider it a hobby. In this podcast, Brigitte brings current events and happenings from the world of TV, she podcasts daily and always has current topics.

Podcast could be quite useful to libraries, we could podcast a daily schedule of events, stories, reviews, book lists, and on and on.



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Now playing: Go-Go's - Head Over Heels
via FoxyTunes

Week 9, Thing 20

I am addicted to youtube and have been for a while. I am always finding new and interesting things to watch. One of my favorite activities to find video mashups, below you will find a Mashup between Fergie "London Bridge" and Britney Spears "Baby One More Time" please be warned that some of the lyrics are a little colorful.



You might recognize the tune of the next video from Staff Day or the Risk Takers Network



I also use youtube to find clips from some of my favorite TV shows. Below is a clip from "The Office."



Youtube could be an excellent resource for CCPL, we could use it to post training videos, RTN videos, story times, the possibilities seem endless.

Week 8, Thing 19

As I was perusing the Web 2.0 awards list, I thought what would be the perfect site for me, one that just screams CRAIG pick me, CRAIG I am the one for you, CRAIG your name is written all over me...well here it is, the site I chose...wait for it...


















Cocktail Builder.

I bet you thought I was going to pick Craigslist. I'm not a big fan of classified ads (cool name though) but Cocktail Builder is quite useful. I entered a few of the ingredients that I know I have and I was given a list of 9 ready to drink cocktails just waiting for me to enjoy. It is a great resource to have at parties when all the good liquor has been enjoyed and only a few odds and ends are available. I can't wait to get home and start mixing...

Oh, I may be late tomorrow.

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Now playing: Monster Magnet - Space Lord [Intergalactic 7 Remix][Multimedia Track]
via FoxyTunes

Week 8, Thing 18

I kind of dig Zoho Writer. It's a good alternative to Word and can be used on the go when I don't have access to MS Office. An added is bonus is that I can post right to my blog. I also like the strikethrough feature, so if I make a mistake decide to I can cross out anything I like. I think that I will use Zoho quite frequently. Thank you Zoho!

High flight

This is one of my favorite poems, I used Zoho writer to post to my blog.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.


Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed December 11, 1941

The Office

The Office is now one of my favorite shows; I took a quiz to see which of the characters I am most like. You can see my results in the right hand panel.

Week 7, Thing 17

Well I have been playing in the sandbox and I have added myself to the favorite blogs list, you should scurry on over there and check it out, I hope it is not to ostentatious. Frankly speaking I am surprised that no one else has done it. It was very easy and quick to edit. Perhaps too easy...

Week 7, Thing 16

I am already somewhat familiar with wikis due to the fact that we use them frequently here at CCPL. What I really enjoyed as I was browsing other wikis was the BookLoversWiki at Princeton Public Library. I think that our patrons would live something like this, especially our book clubs that meet regularly. That would allow them to place reviews or even ask discussion questions about the books they are reading.

Week 6, Thing 15

Library 2.0...where to begin. I must be way too cynical but as I read through the library 2.0 perspectives it made me feel like libraries have been stuck in the stone age until just recently. Suddenly we have this new fangled technology and we must now begin to change how we do things. I've got news, libraries are changing and have been changing since the first library was created. Us librarians see change coming all the time and we are already finding new and creative ways to offer our services. So I have come to the conclusion that Library 2.0 is a creative way to market ourselves to non-library users so they get their butts off the street and into our stacks.

The Big 5-0

Just got off the scale and I have lost 50 pounds. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it with my own 2 eyes.

Week 6, Thing 14

Just spent a bit of time on Technocrati and I have been officially claimed. I looked around some to the top favorite blogs and quite a few were blogs that I have or currently read. Though most of them are not what I would consider personal blogs. I added a couple blogs to my favorites and I am pretty sure my blog is not going to end up as one of the top favorite blogs, I only have one fan and sadly it is me.

I've been claimed

Technorati Profile

Update and such

Just a quick update on a few things. I am still walking at least 5 times a week and I have lost a total of 45 pounds. Jacie and I have added tennis to our exercise regime, we have started getting up early and playing a few sets before we have to go to work. I hate getting up early, but after a good work out in the morning I have a lot of energy for the rest of the day. My tennis skills need a lot of work, the only good shot that I have is a backhand, but Jacie refuses hit tennis balls to my left so that I use it all the time, she insists on making me use my forehand shot which of course always goes long. What's up with that?

Week 6, Thing 13

I have used del.icio.us and it can be of great use to anyone who uses many different PCs from day to day and who want to have access to all of their favorites sites. The use of toolbar buttons makes it very easy to use as well. Tagging items was interesting, but I found that some of the tags chosen for some sites were not ones that I would have used to describe them. I probably won't use del.icio.us too much but I will keep my account up to date just in case.

Week 5, Thing 12

Did some playing around with Rollyo and found it to an interesting idea. I don't know that I would use it that much, we use many resources at the library when we are working on the desk and each of us have our own preferences as to what sources we like to use. I created a TV and Movie search for my blog, since I love both, check it out.

Week 5, Thing 11

Library thing is a lot of fun, now everyone can see all of the stuff that I read. I could spend hours on here adding books to my library. It is so easy to use and it's free, and registering is so simple. I wish other things online could be registered for just as easily. I will probably add more to it as I read, this is a great way to keep a reading list.

Week 5, Thing 10...Way too much fun

Went a little crazy having fun on the image generator:







And here is my Meez:



I loved the image generators but meez, not so much, doesn't really look like me.

Week 4, Thing 9

Merlin was interesting, especially the training calendar, it will come in handy when CEU deadlines are looming. I didn't care for the animated talking head on the main page, she was a little weird and kept staring at me.

I signed up for some rss feeds, though I am still not the impressed with bloglines, I guess it will have to grow on me. One that I like is "Tales from the Liberry", very funny, we've all had patrons like this.

I checked out the Yahoo! avatars and created one for me, if you have been reading my blog you will know why I am planning on wearing something very similar to the boardwalk when I go on vacation next year.

Home at last

Well I am back in Westminster and my vacation is almost over. It's back to work tomorrow. We have to finish unpacking and I have mountains of laundry to do. Vacation was a lot of fun but I glad to be back, it was heaven to sleep in my own bed after spending a week on a pull out sofa bed. Got to go, that laundry won't wash itself.

Vacation Day 8, Last night in OC

Slept in late this morning, didn’t get up until 10:30. It was a rainy morning so we decided to go shopping again. This time we went to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Courtney was in charge of getting us there and we got lost, she was also driving when we got lost in Salisbury at the beginning of the week. We should have never let her in charge of directions. We eventually found our way to the outlets, where I spent time waiting outside of stores while Jacie shopped. The outlets were packed although the people here were not as interesting as those on the boardwalk, I guess these people are just normal. I did get quite a few things at Old Navy, it was the only place that I actually enjoyed shopping. Since I have lost some weight I can actually wear some of the clothes they sell. Who knows as I continue to lose more weight I might even buy something from Abercrombie and Fitch…probably not.

We had dinner in and then we walked down to the beach for one last time. Bailey was running down to the edge of the water and trying to outrun the tide as it was coming in, and once she totally misjudged and fell down and got drenched it was the funniest thing that happened all day.

We are beginning to pack up (how depressing) for our trek back to Westminster tomorrow, so the next time I post it will be from home.

Vacation Day 7, back on my feet

Today was an almost perfect vacation day, I hardly did anything. We slept in and when I woke up my foot was not hurting as bad so I didn’t go to the hospital, although I was limping all day and after too much time on my feet I would have to sit down.

The only downer to the day was going shopping in the early afternoon, but that was only for about 1.5 hours. We hit some of the shops in Fenwick Island Delaware. My nieces got each to a hermit crab and named them Sarah and Crab. When we got back Jacie and I headed for the pool. It was really hot out today and we sat at the pool for about 3.5 hours, it was great.

We ended the evening by going to do a few last minute things at the boardwalk. We walked for a while but my foot was really starting to hurt so I found a bench and watched people until we were ready to go. I have determined that people wear stuff on the boardwalk that they wouldn’t wear in normal life. So next year I am bringing a pair of chaps and a leather biker hat.

Vacation Day 6, started out guilty...

My feet ankles and hips we really sore this morning from all of the walking over the last two day so I didn’t go walking when Jacie, Janet , and Courtney left this morning and an hour later I began feeling guilty. So I get ready and took a quick walk on my own, I am still sore but I feel better since I came back…

We spent several hours at the beach and in the two days we have gone to the beach I was never once approached by the scope photographers to get my picture taken. I must not be scope worthy. Another thing, what is so fascinating with walking up and down the beach? Nothing good comes of it. It is much easier walking a sidewalk or board walk, and sand seems to get into places that it shouldn’t. I don’t buy the fact that it is because of the view because it is the same view from anywhere on the beach…sand, wave, water, sky. The only logical reason I can come up with is that they want gawk at all of the people they walk by and be gawked at as they walk by. Freaks.

After the beach we headed to the pool and me and my niece did nothing but cannon balls all afternoon. The one time I didn’t do a cannon ball and jumped in feet first I smashed my bad heel on the bottom of the pool and now I can hardly walk on my left foot…I guess going to the boardwalk tonight is going to be painful. I will tell you about it later. I almost forgot while I was at the pool another family was playing with a football and the father got hit in the crotch, it was all I could do to not fall off of the lounge laughing…

Many hours later…

We went to the boardwalk and my foot is killing me (I may go the ER tomorrow if it isn’t feeling any better) so I ended up just sitting on a bench while everyone went their own way but I think I had the most fun. Here are some of my boardwalk observation:
· Saw a dude riding a unicycle
· A guy who appeared to be high walked past me about 5 times, he must have been really lost
· Everyone appears to be sun burnt
· Wind was wreaking havoc on people's hair and skirts
· A family sat down beside me and began eating orange halves that they sprinkled with red pepper
· A group of hippies walked past and all appeared to be burnt out
· Saw a fat guy in a belly shirt
· An old man with a cart full of horns set up beside me and began playing for tips.
· He could play two horns at one time.
· Saw a fat girl in a belly shirt
· Saw an 80 year old woman with florescent orange hair
· A guy was wearing bib overalls at the beach.

I also had several brushes with greatness. I saw a bunch of people who reminded me of celebrities:
· A young lady looked like Paris Hilton minus the DOC uniform
· Julianna Margulies
· Mary Kate and Ashley Olson (just not as rail thin)
· Robert E. Lee, with confederate hat.
· Conan O’Brien
· Chloë Sevigny
· Cedric the Entertainer
· Miss Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbillies
· Kim Cattrall
· Janice Soprano
· Oksana Bauil after a few drinks
· Gorbachev (the birthmark was a little lower and to the left)
· One hagged out Michael Bolton (with the long hair)

Well that has been my day so far. Going now, we are having wings and pizza tonight and I can’t wait. I’ll let you know how the foot turns out.

Vacation Day 5...Cannon Ball!!!

Lazy day so far. We got up late and Jacie made everyone breakfast, it was delicious. We then headed to the pool at 11:00am. Funny thing happened there…there are a lot of pool toys that the residents leave at the pool and everyone shares. Me and my 6 year old niece Bailey were throwing a plastic torpedo around and she would dive to the bottom to get it, she was really excited because this was the first time she was able to hold her breath to swim to the bottom of the pool. As we were playing a young boy came over the us and told us that it was his torpedo and he took it from us…well I was a little miffed at this and my niece was pissed off too and she is only six. So I did the proper adult thing…I cannon balled him and all of his little friends. This was probably the best cannon ball I have ever done…a few innocents were dampened sitting around the edge of the pool, but it was for a good cause. Bailey thought it was the neatest thing, we are planning another round of cannon balls tomorrow if the same kids are at the pool.

Stay tuned for more…

Many hours later:

We checked out the Northside Park to do some walking this evening. It was a beautiful park, it has many ball fields, a large play playground, three walking paths, tons of open fields, a pier, and much much more. The next time any of you get to Ocean City please take some time and spend an evening at this park. We chose to walk the mile path, and we did 5 laps, the other walking paths are three quarters of a mile and a half mile.

After the walk all of us met up and headed to Cold Stone Creamery, which is torture when you are trying to eat healthier. Jacie and I split a sugar-free, fat-free, and flavor-free vanilla with almonds, graham crackers and mini chocolate chips. It was OK, but nothing compared to their original creations. Please enjoy the pic of my 2 year old niece enjoying her ice cream. Catch you later, gators.

My niece making sure the bowl is empty.

(Image by the Original Craigster)

Vacation Day 4, or the never ending walk

Me, Jacie, Janet and Courtney all got up early this morning to take a walk on the boardwalk. We drove to the inlet and walked all the way to the other end and back it came to just under five miles. There were quite a lot of people on the boardwalk for being so early. We stopped on the way back and got donuts for everyone else.

My 6 year old niece snitched on me this morning. Her mother told her she could only have one donut because of all the sugar. So I did what any cool uncle would do…I gave her another donut. She was so happy and promised she would not rat me out. Thirty minutes later she told me that she was going to tell her mom, and darned if she didn’t. So I have been calling her snitchy all day. She won’t be getting any more donuts from me.

At 11:30 we decided to walk to the Country Peddler county store. Everyone thought it was about 10 blocks away. Well it turned out to be 30 streets away and we didn’t get back until 2:30. With all of the walking today we could have started at the inlet and walked to Delaware. My feet hurt and I think I have sunburned my head. Peace out…smell you later. Craigster…

Several hours and cocktails later…

We had dinner at Harpoon Hannah’s and it was fantastic, I had the fresh tilapia stuffed with crab imperial. After dinner we sat at their tiki bar and my mother-in-law bought us drinks. Other people may have issues with in-laws but mine is awesome…she bought me several Guinness, none on tap only in cans…beggars can be choosy.

After dinner we ended the evening with a round of mini golf at the Golf Down Under. I was last in my group and of everyone I got the worst score, even my 6 year old niece the snitch beat me. Jacie had the best of everyone a 38…1 under par. I’m done for the evening.

I’m not drunk, I’m drinking.

Vacation Day 3

Everyone is at the pool right now and I am alone in the condo, sweet peace and quiet. Here is what has happened so for. Got up had breakfast and got ready to head to the beach. We had our place staked and were relaxing in the sun by 10:30am. My niece wanted to get in the water so Uncle Craig got elected to take her in. The water wasn’t as cold as I expected, global warming is good for something at least. We stayed in about half an hour.

Here are a few observations I made while sitting on the beach:
· The dude sitting off to my right has the biggest man nipples I have ever seen
· Cell phones should be banned at the beach
· Everyone seems to get wedgies at the beach
· Sand gets everywhere
· 2 women putting lotion on each other is OK and a little sexy…2 men, not so much
· I wish I understood the semaphore flag signaling system, that way I could figure out what the life guards are really waving their flags about
· I hope I don’t start to drown because I don’t know if our lifeguard (C.J. Parker) would be able to save me, she is just a tiny thing.




"C. J. Parker" our lifeguard
(Image by the Original Craigster)


Stayed on the beach until about 1:00pm and then I walked to Tubby’s, a great little carry out place 3 streets from where we are staying, and got drinks for everyone. Everyone had left the beach by the time I got back at 1:30 except for Jacie, so we sat on the beach for another half hour before deciding to hit the pool, and I snuck up to the condo to update my blog. Heading to the pool now myself. Craigster Out.

8 hours later…
Had dinner in and then headed to the Boardwalk for the evening. We parked at the inlet and then walked up to 9th street for ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery, I am proud to say that I was able to resist the ice cream and enjoyed a refreshing bottle of water instead. On the way we saw a couple of belly dancers performing, they were very good but very skinny. We headed back toward the inlet and to the arcade. We spent the rest of the evening at Sportland where Jacie and I won 6,000 Sportland tickets. Last year were had a lot of tickets and turned them in for a 40 cups coffee maker and a chocolate fountain. Who knows what Jacie will want to turn them in for this time.
Got back to the condo at 11:00pm and settled for the evening. Until tomorrow, good night and good luck.




Belly Dancers on the Boardwalk
(Image by the Original Craigster)

Vacation Day 2

Vacation Day 2

Well I am finally at the beach, good old Ocean City, Maryland. We had planned to leave this morning at 7:00am but of course that never happened. Before I go into the events of the day I should give you a cast of characters:

Me: The Original Craigster that you all know and love
Jacie (pronounced Jackie): Is my lovely and talented wife
Janet: Jacie's mother and my mother-in-law
Mat: Jacie's brother and my brother-in-law
Laurian: Mat's wife and my sister-in-law
Bailey: Mat and Laurian's 6 year old daughter and my niece
Ally: Mat and Laurian's 2 year old daughter and my niece
Courtney: Jacie's best friend and defacto family member

All of us are staying a two bedroom condo half a block from the beach on 56th street.

As I said we were planning on leaving at 7am but did not leave Westminster until 8:08am. We stopped for breakfast at Panera, ran a red light, and had to go home twice (Jacie forgot to pack shoes, I forgot my glasses).

On the way here I saw something I had never seen before...a clown driving a car. It really freaked out my wife, she has a phobia about clowns, and this guy was in full blown clown make-up, right down to the big red shoes. We passed him before I could get a picture taken.

We met Jacie's brother's family at the Country House in Salisbury at 11:00am for a little pre-vacation shopping. While Jacie and Laurian went about shopping, me , Mat, Courtney and Bailey decided we were going to go to Best Buy and kill an hour while the rest were shopping, unfortunately we got lost on the way and ended up in the "hood," we did eventually make it out and got to spend a few minutes at Best Buy, where I managed to lose my sunglasses.

Well we all got back together and back on the road heading to OC, and we decide to stop at the grocery store before going to the condo. I thought this was a bad idea since the car was packed. Me, Jacie, Janet, and Courtney all road together in Court's Hyundai Tucson, and the car was packed tight with bags and beach stuff, there was just enough room for the four of us to sit after we got packed. And now they wanted to add a weeks worth of groceries into the mix, it was not going to turn out well, so I argued against, and we got groceries anyway. Here is how we got all of them into the car. Janet and I sat in the back seat and Courtney and Jacie just loaded the groceries on top of us. Luckily we only had a short drive to get to the condo.

So we arrive and after what seemed to be an infinite number of trips up three flights of stairs I was ready to unpack and unwind. BUT...I made a few omissions when I was packing my suitcase...I forgot my swimming trunks, and somehow only packed two t-shirts, good thing Sunsations is across the street.

List of things I need:
Sunglasses
Swimming Shorts
T-Shirts



8 Hours later…..

We ate in this evening and then spent the rest of the evening at Ocean Downs Race Track to watch some harness racing.

Here were my picks for each race and how they finished:

Jack Flasher 1st
Auntie ATM 4th
Totally Obsessed last
Joc O Chip 1st
Cheap Skate 1st
Wishwell Dreamgirl 4th
Poker Oak 6th
Hey That’s Mine 2nd
Lady Bidmore 2nd
Call Her Lucky last

As you can see I picked some good on and some bad ones. I didn’t really matter since I didn’t bet on any of them. So out of all of us I was the only one to come out even.

We left the track and headed back to the condo, once we got there (at 11:30pm) Jacie and I decided to walk to the Sunsations and pick up a few of the things that I forgot: new swim trunks, 2 new t-shirts, and a new pair of shades. Now I am ready for the beach tomorrow.

Until next time, this is the Original Craigster signing off. Nanu, Nanu.

Vacation Day 1

It sure didn't feel like I was on vacation today. I had a lot of stuff to do today before we leave for Ocean City tomorrow. The first thing I wanted to do was go get some new contacts from Wal-Mart, but I realized on my way that I forgot and left my wallet in my desk at TAC on Thursday, so I have to drive into work and get it. It wasn't all bad, it gave me a chance to pick up a couple of more books to read while I sit on the beach. I was able to finally get my contacts and head home to begin working on my "honey do" list. I had several loads of laundry to wash, as I was working on that I got a call from my wife, she forgot some papers she needed for work and wanted me to bring them to her, luckily she works in works in Westminster now so it only took a few minutes to do that and it gave me a chance to go to the post office to have our mail stopped.

So I got back home and while I had the laundry going I started cleaning the house. I promised I would clean it from top to bottom as part of Jacie's birthday present. I finally got done cleaning and folding the laundry, packing some things as I went along. It was then time to mow the lawn, which I enjoy doing especially on a nice day like today.

So I am nearly done my list when Jacie calls me and asks me to go to her Grandparents farm and help clean out the horse stall. My wife keeps her horse, Jordan (she is pictured to the left and is blind in one eye) there, although I am officially claiming the horse as mine, after all I feed her each morning and clean out her stall. Now cleaning out a stall isn't all that bad. The first layer is just straw wood chips and poo (horse poo isn't that bad). It isn't until you get to the layer underneath that you really earn you money. This layer is a trampled and smashed up mixture of poo, wood chips, straw, and a slurry of pee. You can't quite imagine the smell, you have to experience it for yourself. If this stuff were gold I would have been rich, since I was standing about ankle deep in it. The silver lining is that shoveling all of that sh...stuff is quite a good workout.

Jordan
(Image by The Original Craigster)

Got back home and cleaned up and it was time to get the dogs ready for their vacations. Sadee is staying with my mom for the week, Oakley and Dayzee our staying with a friend of ours. My mom loves watching Sadee (she's her favorite) despite her gimpy leg, bad breath, and constant sneezing (the dog not my mother). So the house is very quiet now, no little claws clicking on the hardwood, and I only have a few things left to do before I can relax: clean the fish pond filter, finish packing, load up the car....................you get the idea.



Dayzee on the Left, Oakley on the Right
(Image by The Original Craigster)



Sadee
(Image by The Original Craigster)

Good News

I heard some good news on the radio this morning. It looks like the Spice Girls are going to be getting back together. Now all will be good and right in the world.

Yee Ha!

A New Genre...at least to me

A library friend of mine hipped me to a genre of fiction that I new very little about...erotica. She even recommended a book or two, so I scurried over to Marina and to my surprise I was able to find one at the Pratt Library. So I requested and have received The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A. N. Roquelaure (aka Anne Rice). Let me tell you that I will never be able to hear the story of Sleeping Beauty in the same way again. Very, very steamy!

This got me to thinking about libraries, librarians, and erotica. So off to the internets I went to do a little research, good thing I was at home to do this because I believe the 8e6 filter would have blocked quite a bit of what I found. I searched Google for library, librarians, erotica, and I was amazed of the amount of information that I found. There was a lot of discussion of whether libraries should have erotica in their collection, I wasn't looking that. What I was looking for was whether libraries and librarian were used as settings and character, and also if librarians were writing erotica. I was quite amazed to learn that there is quite a large selection that was library related.

Nerdy No More: A look at the Image and Status of Librarians give an overview of the librarian stereotype and also has a section discussing librarians in erotica.

I was also able to find a couple of authors that are or were librarians: Crystal Jordan, Mara Kelly, and Sabina Sedgewick is the founder of The Kensington Ladies' Erotica Society.

Here are just a few authors that write librarian centric erotica:
John Norman
Adrianna Dane
Priscilla Dewey (I suspect that with a name like Dewey she is a librarian)

Librarian's: We're more than meets the eye.

Milestone

Got on the scale this morning and I have officially lost 35 pounds. Unfortunately sweet, sweet donuts are in the branch this morning, and their pull is very very strong.


(20th Century Fox)

Week 4, Thing 8

RSS feeds are interesting, it is a great way to pull a large amount of information from many sites to one location. RSS feeds could be used for library programs and events. Patrons could easily find out what is going around CCPL and have it easily sent to their news reader. As for bloglines, I didn't care for it much. I just didn't find the look of the site appealing, I know, I am being superficial.

I prefer to use Firefox's Live Bookmark to read RSS Feeds, it is very easy on the eyes. Although some people may not care for the drop down menu style reader.





"If at first you don't succeed... So much for skydiving." - Henry Youngman.

Week 3, Thing 7

I read a very interesting article in the July 07 issue of Popular Science (yes I am also a science geek) entitle "High Dive." It is also available in the magazine database that CCPL subscribes to. The article is about two men in the aerospace industry who are designing a space suit that can be used for skydiving from orbit, also called space diving. They are designing it with two purposes in mind: 1) extreme sports; 2) safety, one of the designers wife died in the shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

The thought of skydiving doesn't interest me much nowadays, but the thought of plummeting to earth from 300,000 feet sounds exhilarating.

If you get a chance take a look at the issue because the images of the suit look awesome.





The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball

It's a conspiracy I say

My "warped" friend Christine recently posted on her blog, that she watches very little television. I find this both amazing and frightening, those of you who know me know that I watch entirely way too much television. I figure that I am just getting my monies worth, what with the cost of cable TV these days.

Then it hit me! There is a vast conspiracy against me! The conspirators include my wife, my doctor, CCPL and the Maryland State Department of Education. You all thought you were so clever but I have figured it all out. Everyone wants me to stop watching so much television.

Here is my theory: My wife Jacie (pronounced Jackie) is the ring leader of course, always plotting, she is. She is the one who coerced me into going to the doctor (I'm glad she did), and my doctor told me to start exercising. Which, of course, is a way to get me away from the TV. But, alas , there efforts were not as far reaching as they would hope, as I was able to fit exercise easily into my television schedule.

Now the plot gets more insidious as my wife and doctor included both CCPL and MSDE into their evil plans...and created...the 23 things! By creating 23 things everyone knew that I would get addicted to my blog, and by blogging at least I was being somewhat productive, and not sitting in front of the television. Well I am on to you. Very, very cunning.

Either that or I am crazy.

A few changes

I have made a couple of changes to my walking play list before I set out this evening.

I deleted:

• Y'all want a single by Korn
• Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' by Journey
• Africa by Toto

I added:

• My Love by Justin Timberlake (my new favorite song. I became fan after seeing him perform a hilarious song on Saturday Night Live last Christmas. Sorry...I'm not adding the link to it, you will have to find it for yourself. Many people will probably find it in very bad taste...but it is the funniest thing you will see in a long time.)
  
• Gettin' Jiggy With It by Will Smith (I can be just a jiggy as the next guy, I just look silly doing it)
  
• Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
  

Walking Music...and...Cheap Prizes

***UPDATE*** Congratulations to Christine who new that Profiles was a teen dance club in Westminster. Back in the day I was a dancing fool, now I just limit it to weddings and board meetings.***UPDATE***

***UPDATE*** Congratulations to Technigranny who won the first cheap prize by correctly answering that "you bark, I bite" was the title to Christopher Moltisanti's (God rest his soul) screenplay on the Sopranos. ***UPDATE***

Took a walk this evening and thought you might like to know what I listen to as I walk, the list is below. I had a couple of run-ins with animals this evening while I was walking. First, I almost stepped on a toad. I made sure he made it safely off of the road (I hope I don't get any warts). Second, I came face to face with a dog, he was barking up a storm and I thought "you bark, I bite." We gave each other our space and went about our merry ways. ***I will give a prize, a cheap prize, to the first person from CCPL who leaves me a comment that says what the quote "you bark, I bite" is a reference to.***

Here is a list of what I listen to as I go on my walks (links go to music videos):

1. Word Up by Cameo
2. Tainted Love by Marilyn Manson (the best version in my humble opinion)
3. Y'All Want a Single by Korn (not for the faint of heart, quite a lot of colorful language)
4. Hey Ya by Outkast
5. A Little Respect by Erasure (this is currently my favorite song for some odd reason)
6. Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners
7. A View to a Kill by Duran Duran
8. Come With Me by P. Diddy (to only good thing to come out of a horrible Godzilla remake)
9. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' by Journey (I may have to switch this to Don't Stop Believing as an homage to the Sopranos)
10. Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue (great beat for walking up steep hills)
11. Wannabe by The Spice Girls (I don't care what anybody says, this IS a good song. Ginger was my favorite Spice Girl)
12. Is She Really Going Out With Him by Sugar Ray (a great cover of the Joe Jackson classic)
13. Fire Woman by The Cult
14. Mr. Brightside by The Killers
15. Turning Japanese by The Vapors
16. Africa by Toto (not a really good song to walk to)
17. Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to my Room) by Paul Lekakis (this reminds of going dancing at Profiles during high school) *** I will give another prize, another cheap prize, to the first person from CCPL who leaves a comment telling what Profiles was and where it was located in Westminster.***
18. Play that Funky Music White Boy by Wild Cherry (I'm funky and a white boy...this is a great song when you just want to strut)
19. Headed for a Heartbreak by Winger (Winger is too under rated, they are a great band. This song and the next one are good during a cool down walk.)
20. Crazy For You by Madonna (yes, I know, I'm sappy)

It's Electrifying

As you know in my effort to be healthier I have been walking. Well last Friday evening I was walking and off in the distance storm was brewing and thought that I would have had time to make it back before the storm rolled in. Well I didn't quite make it...1/2 hour in to my walk the storm was upon me and my walk turned into a hasty run. If I would have been killed by lightning while I was on my walk to be more healthy, I would have been really mad!

Week 3, Thing 6

I have been messing around with the Flickr 3rd party sites and have been having a lot of fun doing it. I checked out Retrievr where you draw a picture and it will retrieve flickr images that match you drawing. I had no luck what so ever with this none of the images matched remotely with what I drew. I also played around with the magazine cover, movie poster, motivator, and the trading card creator over at fd's Flickr Toys. I created a trading card which you can see below. I really like the idea of creating my own motivational poster, because you can make them not only motivational but you can also make ones that are ironic, funny, and cynical (not that I am like that though).

Please to be enjoying my trading card below! It is not doctored in any way...


(image created by The Original Craigster)










"The trouble with being punctual is that no body's there to appreciate it."
Franklin P. Jones

Week 3, Thing 5

Well, I have been exploring Flickr and it seem like a very useful service, especially for sharing photos. I enjoyed the geotagged photos, I didn't recognize any of the people in the photos located in Westminster just the locations. I browsed around and found this fantastic photo:

(Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/people/joeltelling/

I don't care who you are...this is a funny picture...a monkey on a dog...comedy gold.

I also created a Flickr account and added a few photos of the library. The one below is of our stolen peephole...can you believe that someone would want steal a peephole...what is the world coming to?


(Photo by the Original Craigster)

My wife will love this site! She is always taking pictures and this will be a fantastic way for her to share them.





"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchett

I'm an Idiot

I had my things all mixed up. They are now numbered correctly.





"You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try'."
Homer Simpson

Week 2, Thing 4

My blog is registered and I have downloaded the 23 Things Tracking Log.





"Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet."
--Mark Twain.

Good Week

Been having a great week so far. I have done a lot of walking this week and my foot hasn't been hurting as much and I feel great. Hopefully I will be running again in about two weeks, if not I will have to think of a different way to exercise. I may take up cycling, I do have a bike that is gathering dust, maybe I'll brush it off and take it for a spin.

I'm afraid I'll look like this:

(image courtesy of http://www.sweetandbitter.com)




When I really want to look like this:

(image courtesy of http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com)

It's something to work toward. Having a goal is always good. I need to view problems as challenges as I have learned in 23 things.

Week 2, Thing 3

As you can see my blog is set up.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

Week 1 Thing 2

I watched the 7 1/2 habits tutorial and they are:

Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind

Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning

Habit 3: View problems as challenges

Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner

Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox

Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage

Habit 7: Teach/mentor others

Habit 7 ½: Play

My favorite one is obviously number 7 1/2...Play
The hardest one for me is probably number 3. I usually see problems as problems, so I will have to learn to be a more optimistic person. When life gives you lemons make lemonade.





"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx

Week 1 Thing 1

I read the blog and I found out about the program.




"If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either."
Dick Cavett.

Update and what not

Well it has been a while since my last update. I have not given up on running yet but my feet might have. After about two weeks of running I developed horrible pain in my left foot and would hardly be able to walk in the morning. Turns out I have developed plantar fasciitis in my left foot, so I have had to go back to walking 5 days a week at least for the next few weeks.

I am still losing weight...slowly, 30 pounds for far and my blood pressure is normal (at least something about me is normal).

I will begin to post my 23 Things shortly see please stand by...

Abs of Steel...hardly

Since I began running my exercise days went from 5 a week to 3, and I have been feeling a little short changed. So I thought I would treat myself to a nice aerobic workout and I popped an ab workout I got from the library into the DVD machine. What a big mistake! I got a good workout but I have sore muscles where I didn't even know I had muscles. But in the greater scheme of things I guess this was good for me.

Trash Day

Got a late start on my run today, didn't get on the road until about 6am. I usually like to be finishing at that time. Did the following workout today: intervals of running 90 seconds, walking 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. I did not want to get out of bed and I did not feel like running at all, but I always seem to feel better after a run than before it.

Today was trash day in my neighborhood, and I noticed as I was running that it was a veritable treasure trove of trash. Here is list of some to the items that I saw on my run:
Luggage
Mops (2 varieties)
Set of wall shelves

Probably the most interesting thing I saw was a responsible middle school student. One of my neighbors has a daughter in middle school and she recently got a puppy. I'm sure one of the conditions was that she was responsible for the dog, well she was out at 6am walking the dog as I was running, come to think of it she is the only person that I have ever seen walk the dog, they are inseparable, every time I see her she has her puppy with her.

Up and running

Well, here it is the blog I created for 23 things project . So until I start the 23 things beginning in June I will start blogging now.

Back in March I went to the doctor and he told me that I was a prime candidate to have a heart attack or a stroke at anytime because of my high blood pressure and my weight. So he gave some meds, told me what not to eat (which is just about everything that tastes good) and suggested exercising 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes at a time, and sent me on my way.

Fast forward to today, my blood pressure is way down and I have lost 26 pounds. How, you ask? I followed my Doctor's advice (turns out those college boys know what they are talking about). I started walking 5 days a week throughout all of march and April and just last week I started running. I follow the 'Couch to 5k' running program, it worked for me in the past so I am giving it another try. So in addition to the 23 Things, I will also be keeping a running log on this blog (rhyming is unintentional), to keep all of my peeps at CCPL, and whoever else is reading in the blogosphere, aware of how things are going. Plus, I'm sure you all will give me a hard time if I start slacking off, I both welcome and expect it.

My running log so far:
Tue 5/1, Thu 5/3, Sat 5/5 Week 1, same workout all three days, intervals of running for 1 minute, and walking for 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes

Thu 5/4 walked for 32 minutes

Tue 5/8 Began week 2, intervals of running for 9 seconds, and walking for 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. Saw a Saint Bernard attacking a ground hog on this run.

Question: What do me and Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana (quite possibly the greatest Quarterback to ever step on the field, which i know is heresy to say around here because many believe that it is Johnny Unitas) have in common?


Answer: We are both on the same blood pressure medicine.