For the past couple weeks, I was planning to go to work as a hockey player for Halloween. Then, after I got home from hockey last night (two of our six goals thank-you very much. Of course the other team got 20 goals so not so impressive from a team point of view), I lay in bed thinking "that's a pretty generic idea - why can't I think of something unique and preferably connected to my job?"
One thought led to another and around 2am, I came up with the idea of taking a plain white t-shirt, a bunch of coloured markers and going as a "Human Flip Chart".
Why that for a costume? Well, over the past couple months, I've been introduced to all RPL staff via a series of "Dealing With Change" workshops that I sat in on (yes, all 10 of them!) One of the main exercises at the workshops was a visioning exercise where people were placed in groups and had to either come up with some ideas about "Where RPL Is Now" or "Where RPL Will Be In The Future".
So I thought it might be fun to do a take-off on that but instead of asking a "work" question, I'd ask people to write either their favourite book or author on the "human flip chart". I wasn't sure if the idea would work but it turned out to be quite a hit - I had one person come by my office just to make sure they got to record their favourite book, another person said it was such a good idea she was going to steal it for a Halloween party she was going to later tonight and one co-worker wrote down a few of the titles she hadn't heard of, assuming that if somebody claimed it as their favourite, it was probably worth checking out. (Talk about a unique form of reader's advisory!)
And what were the books/authors chosen as favourites by random staff I encountered at RPL's Central Branch throughout the day?
The Godfather by Mario Puzo Oscar Wilde The Little Engine That Could - Watty Piper James Patterson Green Eggs and Ham Fall on Your Knees by Anne Marie MacDonald Lord of the Rings by Tolkien Bel Canto - Ann Practchett A Wrinkle in Time Stone Age to Golden Age - Mr. Gordon Meek Outlanders - D. Gabaldon Sex and the City (this person freely admitted they didn't know if the TV/Movie had a related book but just wanted to write the word "sex" on me somewhere) Stranger in a Strange Land Emma by Jane Austen Speechless - Rosemary Crossley Captain Underpants The Secret Paddy Clark Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle Gail Bowen Night - Elie Wiesel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Stud (not sure if this was a book or a message!) The Power of One - Bryce Courtney Julie Garwood The Tower Treasure - FW Dixon Black Cat - Poe Charlotte's Web Catch A Fire Charlotte's Web (it, along with "Gone With the Wind" were the only two chosen twice I think) Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris Joan Johnston Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck Lillian Harry - British War Fiction
(I may have missed some - it's remarkably hard to read a shirt with writing all over it in a logical manner!)
...and here's what it looked like at the end of the day:
Went over to the downtown mall for lunch today as I forgot my customary lunch o' leftovers. It was packed in the food court so I ended up sharing a table with a guy who turned out to be the guitarist from a band who were a bit of a one-hit wonder in the early 2000's. (They did end up getting a song on the 90210 soundtrack so you can't do much better than that!) To hear their big tune, click on this link then select "Rock" then "May B Ted - Wet".
Then, at Beer Bros Pub for "Books to Beers" after work, who's sitting at the bar but Corner Gas's Officer Davis? (I was there before everyone else arrived but was still too chicken to go up and thank him for being the poster boy for Sask Library Week last year.)
And to top it off, the waitress mentions that she recently worked on the set of Stephen King's "Dolan's Cadillac" which was shot in Regina earlier this year. Christian Slater was the star and when I look up the film when I get home, it turns out it was directed by a guy I went to University with (which means I have a Kevin Bacon number of 3!)
In addition to going to my usual sources to read responses to the Barack Obama half-hour, less than a week to go "infomercial", I went to a fairly popular right-wing blog called Little Green Footballs to see what kind of response the speech got there.
Just like my conversation with the library technician from the Regina Christian School at the Teen Literacy Forum on Monday, it's always interesting to get some insight into people who have diametrically opposed views to your own. (Sample quote from the RCS Librarian: "We have certain...restrictions...on what we can buy. But as long as a story shows good triumphing over evil, we'll consider it for our library. That's our main criteria...good over evil." She also said something about the main goal of school being to promote conformity or something. So there were some things we agreed on! )
After being skipped over in the most recent budget, Saskatchewan's public libraries are overjoyed that the Provincial Government announced yesterday that they will be putting $5 million towards the Single Integrated Library System projectover the next few years. SILS will create a single card system for the entire province, something that was previously not feasible but with current technologies, is an obvious next step. Think of it this way - if cities of one million people like Calgary and Ottawa can have a single ILS for their libraries, why not a province of one million people?
There will be a number of advantages once the new system is in place. As just a couple examples, users who live in bedroom communities but who work and obtain most services in Regina or Saskatoon will no longer have to register for a card in their hometown before being able to ask the wider resources available in the cities as is the current practice. Although books throughout the province were always available via ILL, now, holds placed on a book anywhere in the province will be no different than a hold placed on a book in a community just down the road within the same library system.
I'm pretty excited as the idea of province-wide cards has been of interest to me ever since I lived in Alberta and was exposed to The Alberta Library. I even did my major advocacy project on the idea of creating a province-wide library card for Ontario. That assignment was a perfect example of "hypothetical reality" but I'm glad to see that some of the points we made back then are relevant to SILS today.
I'm happy to say that I also played a very small role in this project - partly as the co-chair of the OPAC+ interest group (and I mean "small" as I was on the road doing Internet training in our branches at the time and was unable to contribute nearly as much as I would've liked to) and partly by coordinating the advocacy efforts within Southeast Regional Library.
Anyhow, there's more work to be done tomorrow than there was yesterday. But this is possibly the single biggest advance in the Provincial Library system in the last twenty years. Very exciting!
I attended an excellent Teen Literacy conference today, tomorrow's the wrap-up conference call for the Canadian Library HR Summit but instead of writing about either of those subjects, I think I'm going to introduce a new recurring feature that I've been thinking about adding to my blog for awhile.
Like the Friday Fun Links that highlight interesting, unique and fun web sites, Music Mondays will be an opportunity for me to share some of my favourite artists and songs. Some will be obscure, some will be mainstream; some will feature new releases, some will be classics; some will connect to what's going on in the wider world, some won't mean a thing at all.
To start off, here's a song I grew to love when I went to England for a semester of University in 1995. I'd never seen the video but I ended up looking it up this past weekend for some reason and discovered that it was a cool video that enhanced an already great song.
I recently came across an article titled "Facebook in a Crowd" in the New York Times magazine. It was written by Canadian writer, Hal Niedzviecki and details the fact that he has nearly 700 Facebook friends but, when he tried to use Facebook Events to plan a party in Toronto and invited every one on his Friends List, exactly ONE person showed up.
"I would learn, when I asked some people who didn’t show up the next
day, that “definitely attending” on Facebook means “maybe” and “maybe
attending” means “likely not.” So I probably shouldn’t have taken it
personally. But the combination of alcohol and solitude turned my
thoughts to self-pity. Was I really that big of a loser? Or was it that
no one wants to get together in real life anymore?"
Beyond his insights into Facebook as a social medium, why else is this interesting ? Well, for one thing, I happen to be one of those 700 or so friends of Mr. Niedzviecki although I've never met him in person and he wouldn't know me from a hole in the proverbial ground.
I added him as a friend maybe a year ago when I went through a phase of trying to find the most famous person who could be reliably proven to actually be the person on Facebook. (This was inspired by me being added as a friend of "Leslie Neilsen".)
I mostly did this by friending a lot of writers I knew from my previous life then looking through their Friends Lists which would often lead to more and more famous writers, actors, musicians or other celebrities.
And it's not like Hal N. was a total one-off as a "friend" - although we don't know each other in real life, we do share nine friends in common on Facebook. This includes one other writer who I also don't know in real life but who coincidentally, is actual real life friends with the "mystery friend" in a recent post I did about Facebook. The rest of Hal's and my common connections are a mixture of writers and publishers, all of whom I do know in real life and very conceivably, if I was hanging out at some place like BookExpo, there would be the possibility that we would be introduced.
Hal wasn't the most famous person I found on Facebook (that would probably be Dave Bidini or, possibly Gord Downie though I'm not 100% certain it was the real guy. Oh, and I see Mr. Hip himself has de-friended me. I'm saddened) but that's not my point. (Or was it?) I think that it's simply and ultimately amazing that there is now a way for people to connect with their friends, near and far, people they are only tangentially connected to (again, near or far) and complete strangers who they may still be interested in knowing (or being seen as knowing!) without having to meet that person in real life.
Why else is this at the front of my mind? I've been asked to do a presentation for the Sask Library Association in mid-November on "Networking Skills for Librarians". Full details are below but you'll note that this isn't part of a conference or a day long workshop or anything like that. Instead, it's a one-off workshop with me as the lone speaker. Wow - what pressure! (But seriously, if you're interested in a road trip to Moose Jaw, why not come out for it? It's free so what've you got to lose?)
I'll likely have more thoughts as the workshop draws nearer (and I'll post my Powerpoint if I go that way for my presentation as I suspect I might) but in all modesty, I think this is probably one area that I'm very qualified to speak to. Whether it's setting up social functions during library school, organizing member nights for the Writers Guild of Alberta or reaching out to make friends with people who are otherwise complete strangers on Facebook (famous or not), I definitely will have lots to say on the topic of "how to network." (Irony alert - I think I've mentioned before my distain for the word "networking". Hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!")
(Oh, and that reminds me of something else - the next "Boo!"ks to Beers social gathering for Regina and area librarians will be on Thursday October 30 at 4:30pm at Beer Bros. Full details are on Facebook. As for the workshop, feel free to come out if you're in the area. We say "Regina and area librarians" but really, the invitation is open. My only request is that you RSVP on Facebook if you're coming so I know how many spots to reserve. We've got six already - I'm kicking Hal and his NYT-published ass!)
--- Networking Skills for Librarians
An educational & social event for Library Staff
Come and learn about improving your professional networking skills, and stay for the refreshments and social time with your peers.
Two locations in the province! No charge for admission.
•Prince Albert Presenter: Brenda Tenhold, School Library Consultant 2pm, Fri Nov 14th 2008 Meeting Room #1, John M Cuelenaere Public Library, 125 - 12 Street East. Prince Albert, SK S6V 1B7
•Moose Jaw Presenter: Jason Hammond, Organization Development Specialist, Regina Public Library 2pm, Thurs Nov 13th 2008 Herb Taylor Room, Moose Jaw Public library, 461 Langdon Crescent Moose Jaw, SK, S6H 0X6
Please RSVP by Fri. Nov. 7th to the SLA Office: slaprograms@sasktel.net/306.780.9413
Presented by the Saskatchewan Library Association Membership Committee
I've just finished week four of my return to beer league hockey after a seven year absence so I thought I'd give a completely useless update since hockey is consistently the most despised topic on this blog when I do my annual survey. (Hmm, when's that due again?)
Week One - Scrimmage - we only have one sub per team and play four-on-four as it is. I am amazed that I don't puke. Seriously. - oh, and I realise too late that my helmet is the only piece of equipment I don't have in Regina - it's somehow ended up at my parent's in Indian Head. So I play old school without a bucket, risking concussion or worse. Luckily, I rarely get into any situation where danger from puck or player is imminent. - there are about three guys remaining from the days when I used to play and a bunch of young "kids" in the dressing room when I show up. I realise with some sadness that I used to be one of those kids, making plans for bars to hit after the game (or coming in from the bar directly to the game), not caring about having to get home right after the game ends or that you might get less than eight hours of sleep. - I pot one goal going five hole on the goalie. (No one has to know I was aiming for the top corner.)
Week Two - First Game - I pay up for the first half of the season ($80 for 11 games) having decided to only play during our home ice times on Thursday night at 10:15, not the "away" games that are scattered throughout the rest of the week. My official reason is that I want to spend time at home with Shea and Pace which is mostly true. But also, I've become a person who thinks getting home at midnight on a Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday night is not a fun think when you're usually getting up at 6:30am the next day. (Note to self: check for Friday away games - our home ice time used to be Friday at 10:15pm and that was perfect - no worries about class or work the next day, you could go out afterwards but weren't tempted to go out at 8pm like so many of your friends, it was something to look forward to all week and helped kick off the weekend in a very fun way.) - I pot one goal when the puck goes in off my foot as I stand in the crease. Kicking the puck in intentionally is illegal but since I don't have the coordination to purposely do that, the goal stands.
Week Three - Game Two - we have three full lines and a rotation of three defensemen meaning that I can actually skate pretty hard and have plenty of time to catch my breath rather than going out, doing one rush then dogging it for the rest of my shift until I come off gasping. - having three full lines also means that we get to stay with the same players and I end up playing with a couple of the old vets from back in my younger days (they were old vets back then so you can imagine what they're like now.) But I have pretty good chemistry with one guy who always had a nose for the net and get about five assists passing to him plus a goal when he passes to me. (The fact that I'm averaging a goal per game isn't that good when you realise that our final scores would make a neutral observer think we're playing football instead of hockey - 24-10, 15-14, 30-9.) - we win which used to be quite the rarity but seems to be less likely to occur now that the players filling the "kid" role also appear to have "talent"
Week Four - Game Three - we're short again but this is the first game where my legs feel half decent and though I'm nowhere near the cardio level that I used to be, I can at least finally feel that I'm getting better after almost having a regression the last two weeks. - we get our butts kicked (this game is the 30-9 cited above) and I realise that I'm a lot less competitive than I used to be. - I don't get any goals or assists and think I'm lucky to get two or three shots on net the whole time. Our young guys, overcompensating for us being short and getting hammered by the other team, end up trying to do it all themselves which doesn't work against a team that passes well and often.
There. One of my most boring blog entries ever. Yay!
So I'm watching the Calgary Flames game earlier tonight and that inspires me to do something I haven't done in a long time - look at the MLS listings for our old neighbourhood in Calgary.
I'll admit that when we first left Calgary in 2004, I did this search on a WAY too regular basis. We'd bought a unit in an under-valued condo complex (due to an ongoing lawsuit with the developer - long story!) with the thought that if the lawsuit was resolved within a year or two, we'd potentially stand to make a killing.
That didn't happen and when we sold because I was offered a job back in Saskatchewan, we made a bit of money but not nearly the big score that I'd hoped for in the hot Calgary real estate market (we actually bought close to the top of the market plus a day's hesitation in making our offer meant we ended up in a bidding war with one other buyer. Try to explain to your parents back in Saskatchewan that you had to pay MORE than the list price for a place to live!)
That's all changed and the Alberta oil and resources boom has hit in Saskatchewan. Our province has the hottest economy in the country and after initially being depressed when we moved home that we'd never have a chance to potentially have such a big real estate gain, our house has ended up doubling in value in three years. When you look at the price we paid in Calgary and what we got when we sold versus the same ratio in Regina, it's no contest - Regina's real estate market has kicked ass the last few years and we timed our buy here WAY better.
Which is all a long way to say that when I looked at the condos in our old neighbourhood tonight, not only did I see a unit for sale in our old building but the exact unit that we used to own is currently listed! (Here's a pic from when we drove by it during a trip to Calgary earlier this summer.)
(Our unit was on the third floor, somewhere in the middle left of this picture. If I had a digital camera back then or was near a scanner, I'd be posting some of the wicked Calgary skyline view photos we took from our balcony!)
I don't know if the lawsuit got settled or not but our old condo's definitely jumped in price since we owned it as well - although it's been four years since we sold as opposed to the brief two years we owned it. One other irony? It's the same salesperson selling it as we used and who sold it to us when we bought it. He and his wife specialize in inner-city condos but it's hilarious that, like clockwork every few years, this guy is the one who's really making a score on this particular condo!
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