...for the last 50 years of her life!

(I can't help but add a slightly snarky, "Well, I guess that means there's hope for everyone!" )

On a related note, for someone whose very name is synonymous with sainthood, er, she wasn't.

I've had lots of links, pics and videos lately so why not a rollicking ramble through things happening recently in my life for a change?

Pace
...is a drool monster and we figure he's starting teething.  He's 15.3 lbs at 3 months and wearing clothes that are sized for a 6-9 month old.  He sleeps 5-6 hours at a time which is the best thing EVER.  He's a lot more alert and human now - playing with his hands, focusing on faces for extended periods.  Oh, and he's giggling and laughing up a storm and I can't help but wonder why, from an evolutionary standpoint, didn't babies develop the ability to laugh and smile at birth instead of needing a couple months for it to happen?  I'd be much more likely to save a happy baby than one who cries and bawls non-stop.  That's just asking to be left for the wolves.   Speaking of danger, Pace went for a boat ride today.  He lived.

Shea
...is loving being a mom and living in Weyburn with her parents during the week.  As you can tell by Pace's weight, breastfeeding is going exceptionally well.  Her Facebook addiction is only growing stronger. 

Work
It's hard to believe I'm about to begin my sixth month of an 18-month contract already.  Mostly because of Pace, this summer has flown quicker than any I can remember.  I've said before that I won't write too much about my work but I will mention that I'm dealing with everything from kids with head lice to regulations governing regional library boundaries and all points in between.

Garage Sales
Shea and I love going to garage sales but haven't all summer, again, for obvious reasons.  But this weekend, we went Thursday night in Weyburn, Friday night on the way into Regina and then all day Saturday with Shea's brother and his girlfriend.  I bought a crapload of books (as usual).  Pace also got a Spiderman doll and an electric guitar toy that I already find annoying, even though I was the one who bought it for him.  Best rule for garage sales?  Put up balloons people!

A Tale of Two BBQ's
Shea had her end-of-summer work BBQ last night and I had mine this afternoon at Nickel Lake Regional Park just outside of Weyburn.  Both were good but Shea's was better in a way because she hadn't seen many of her co-workers since starting her maternity leave and many hadn't met Pace yet (who was a total angel for three hours.)  Mine was better because we had steak instead of burgers.

Television
What's that?  Seriously, the only TV I watch lately is the news at noon and at 6pm (because Shea's parents do) plus the occasional episode of The Daily Show.  That's it.  We do try to rent and watch a movie or two every weekend though whether we can get through them is always up to Pace.

Books
I do get to do some reading done though probably not up to my usual book per week average.  I've just started Sixpence House about an American couple who move to Hay-on-Wye, a Welsh town with 1500 people and 40 bookstores.  Very good so far.  I also read The Starfish and the Spider about the concept of leaderless organizations which was also really good.  In fact, it's a shock to be a guy who all of a sudden reads and enjoys management books having spent a lifetime as the guy who would probably make fun of those who do so.

I guess that's it.  Later...

I got this off the PLG listserv.  There's lots of talk in libraryland about what the future of libraries will be so I thought I'd pass along one person's tongue-in-cheek (?) take on the question...

There was a time when we were mere purveyors of books and periodicals and related media -- and, by extension, of ideas and viewpoints --  and the "go to" people for finding information and referrals to just about anything that might come up.

Thankfully (and partly thanks to the wide availability of online material and search engines), those days are behind us forever, and  
we can now focus on our long-neglected social responsibilities.

Every librarian, as a steward of the public trust, has a duty to eliminate race and income inequity, promote diversity, and serve the needs of downtrodden and oppressed people everywhere who do not have voices with which to speak.  Every librarian, as an employee of government, has a duty to be an agent of social change, fulfilling  
the role of government as repairer of wrongs and nurturer and caretaker of its citizens.

At my library, we, too, struggled with balancing the high cost of books and periodicals with the cost of the social services we wished to provide. Every year was another balancing act that left no one particularly happy.

Then we had our epiphany.

In the digital age, books and periodicals are irrelevant, and viewpoints and ideas are dead.  These things are emphatically NOT what our patrons want or need.

They want computers and games.  They want food.  In some cases, they want and need beds and showers.  Above all, they want our help, and I do not mean help to find a copy of Tale of Two Cities.

So we got rid of our books and periodicals.

Every one of them.

I am now happy to say that we offer a wide array of social services unimpeded by the worn-out, tattered cultural baggage of bourgeoise society.

We have on-staff, onsite social workers and psychiatric therapists.   

We offer space for lawyers working pro bono.  There is space for weekly visits from county health services staff and space for child  
protective services functions.  We can treat people with substance abuse problems.  We can shelter anyone needing respite from abusive  
relationships, and we can shelter the homeless, thanks to generous contributions of bedding from local furniture retailers.

We were able to greatly expand the restrooms and add full showers to those facilities.  We have expanded the coffee shop to a full-service cafeteria, with free or reduced-cost meals (eligibility certified by the former reference librarians). We have partnered with local second-
hand stores to provide a full line of clothing and shoes.

All these services -- and many more I haven't even mentioned -- were made possible by the simple expedient of eliminating the books and periodicals!  Remember that you save not only the cost of the items and subscriptions, but the considerable cost of cataloging and looking after them!

We are entering a new and exciting phase of librarianship in which we truly help people in need -- even offering them the good parenting  
they never had -- and move beyond the narrow viewpoint of merely freely offering access to the word in all its forms.

It is a brave, new world!

And we are free of books, and the inordinate amount of tending they took, forever!

-- Joe Schallan
     New Phoenix, Arizona

The ALA recently released a survey of rural librarians with all kinds of interesting, enlightening and downright depressing comments and statistics.

As someone who willingly chose to work in a rural library as my first job over a city position, this survey also hits close to home (although I do believe that the situation in Canada for salaries and working conditions is much better than in the US for the most part.)

(via the always jam-packed ALA weekly e-newsletter which, unfortunately isn’t online)

A couple variations on Pachelbel's Canon...

Of course, that's the equivalent of saying you beat your grandfather in the 100 metre dash but still...they're just getting around to a cover story on the latest trend in cyberspace, Facebook while my article for CLA's Feliciter on the very same topic came out a couple months ago (though it wasn't a cover story either so I guess it's really a tie in some ways.)   more »

We had this discussion on my blog once already.  But anyhow, since it's one of my personal grammar crusades, here's another article on the history of using "they/their/them" as the first-person singular instead of the contemporary but much more awkward "he/she" convention. 

"...for most of the existence of the English language, ‘they’ was used as the accepted singular gender-neutral pronoun. The use of ‘it’ was reserved for objects, as it is today, but for people the pronoun of choice was they/their/them.

So how did this all change? Courtesy of the English Parliament."

Damn Interesting » When They Became Him

List of acquired tastes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I'm proud to say that "cilantro" and "clamato" were two additions I made to the list although cilantro is still one I don't have a taste for - I think I have that enzyme thing where it tastes like rotted hell "an unpleasant soapy taste and/or rank smell" to use the terminology I took right from the Wikipedia cilantro entry.)