Recycle Please

Absolutely horrible!

Please check out Reusable Bags

• Each year billions of bags end up as ugly litter.
• Eventually they break down into tiny toxic bits polluting our soil, river, lakes and oceans
• Production requires vast amounts of oil.
• Countless animals needlessly die each year.

You can buy bags made out of recycled bottles! I always carry them in my car and use them all the time. It's amazing how much they come in handy

Harry Potter

**I NEVER discuss spoilers**
I am finished! It was so good, I pounded through it in 2 days. J K Rowling did such an amazing job writing this series. Everything was tied together so nicely and the ending was perfect. Now I have to wait till another great author comes around and excites me further. I really can't wait.

5 out of 5

Library 2.0 in my hometown

I am so excited, my new boss, Marsha, is very into library 2.0. We have started a blog to get our library staff comfortable with blogging and we hope to teach them all of the ins and outs of linking, ftp, images, linking, utube, etc. Our larger hopes are that we can get the teens into a blogging site were they can reflect upon books, contribute artwork-- create artwork, publish poetry and writings, and anything else they can use their brains for. Looking at all of the other websites out there, especially Allen county, it is easy to get inspired. I truly hope that we can change up our website and give these kids what they really want, ownership in a creative space!

Wenches

The official Wench Pin--love it!--http://www.wench.org/about/what.php
I really don't qualify but maybe I could be their mascot :)

...and were movin' right along--bum bum bum bum

I can't believe that school is almost done, this semester anyway. The on campus week was interesting-to say the least. I am just so glad to have met some good friends and know that they will help me, and vice versa, shall the need arise. We were much busier than I expected and unfortunately didn't get the opportunity to see Pittsburgh or Gibsonia (my great grandfather founded the place). We were so busy and i had kind of a crazy bunch for my group project. To top it all off I got really sick and had to make a stop at the VA hospital. I am just so glad that i am set up now, there at the VA, because it is so close to the school and the hotel that if I need anything it will be easy to get to. I am excited that I actually got my web page up and running, there are only a few small things to get done and i will have finished my first semester!!! Yeah!!

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Outlander; let the Scottish fun begin..

For all my roommates and friends in the Pitts, this is the book I was talking about. mmmmm..............

5 out of 5

Absorbing and heartwarming, this first novel lavishly evokes the land and lore of Scotland, quickening both with realistic characters and a feisty, likable heroine. English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall and husband Frank take a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in 1945. When Claire walks through a cleft stone in an ancient henge, she's somehow transported to 1743. She encounters Frank's evil ancestor, British captain Jonathan ``Black Jack'' Randall, and is adopted by another clan. Claire nurses young soldier James Fraser, a gallant, merry redhead, and the two begin a romance, seeing each other through many perilous, swashbuckling adventures involving Black Jack. Scenes of the Highlanders' daily life blend poignant emotions with Scottish wit and humor. Eventually Sassenach (outlander) Claire finds a chance to return to 1945, and must choose between distant memories of Frnak and her happy, uncomplicated existence with Jamie.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

5 out of 5

One of my all time favorites, Martin outdoes himself. BTW my favorite character is Arya.

A Game of Thrones is set in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a land reminiscent of Medieval Europe. In Westeros the seasons last for years, sometimes decades, at a time.
Fifteen years prior to the novel, the Seven Kingdoms were torn apart by a civil war, known alternately as "Robert's Rebellion" and the "War of the Usurper." Prince Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped Lyanna Stark, arousing the ire of her family and of her betrothed, Lord Robert Baratheon (the war's titular rebel). The Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, had Lyanna's father and eldest brother executed when they demanded her safe return. Her second brother, Eddard, joined his boyhood friend Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn, with whom they had been fostered as children, in declaring war against the Targaryens, securing the allegiances of House Tully and House Arryn through a network of dynastic marriages (Lord Eddard to Catelyn Tully and Lord Jon Arryn to Lysa Tully). The powerful House Tyrell continued to support the King, but House Lannister and House Martell both dragged their feet due to insults against their houses by the King. The civil war climaxed with the Battle of the Trident, when Prince Rhaegar was killed in battle by Robert Baratheon. The Lannisters finally agreed to support King Aerys, but then brutally turned against him, sacking the capital at King's Landing. Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard executed King Aerys and House Lannister swore loyalty to Robert Baratheon. The Tyrells and remaining royalists surrendered and Robert Baratheon was declared King of the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately, during the war, Lyanna Stark had died, apparently of illness; Robert Baratheon instead married Cersei Lannister to cement the alliance. Despite Robert's victory, the Mad King's youngest son Viserys and youngest daughter Daenerys were taken to safety across the sea by loyal retainers. After the war House Martell chose a path of isolation, since Prince Doran's sister Elia (Prince Rhaegar's wife) and her young children had been killed by Lannister armsmen during the storming of the capital.
Six years later King Robert proved his resolve by defeating a rebellion by Lord Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands. Balon's two eldest sons were killed and his youngest son, Theon, was given to the care of Eddard Stark as a ward.

it's business time....

In the Pitts

Okay--I made it I am in Pittsburgh. So far so good, everyone seems very nice and it was great to know, from cohort 6, that this is pretty much the worst semester and that the semester in summer is shorter than fall and spring, I thought they were all the same. I really hope I get the whole web page thing figured out. Hopefully while I am here on campus I can finish it up because I don't know that it is possible to work from home, on my Vista. Last night a few of us went out and I am wiped out--no sleep either because those hotel beds suck. Anyway I am on my way to another class.

connections

Yesterday I did my passport to adventure program at my library. It was very cool. I am so glad to have that under my belt and off my shoulders. The kids were really cute, they seemed to like it although I wish more children would have shown. I guess it was best for me to get my feet wet with a few rather than a lot. My supervisors said I did a really great job so that was nice. I really enjoy reading to the kids, I do hope I get to do more of that.

On another note, I am excited to get to Pittsburgh and feel more attached to these people i am responding to online and to meet my teachers. i hope that this last HTML assignment will not be graded upon the fact that i can't seem to figure it out, before the due date, and I don't seem to be able to get any good tips to help me complete it. Anyway, i leave tomorrow--early because I am on the west coast, at least I will get in some reading time!

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People in the info equation

The social life of information is a pretty good book. I have to admit with all of the information is going to change everything bit and wipe out so many jobs, I hadn't thought of just how important people are going to be in this exchange. It is interesting and funny how little things like cooler talk-the wasting time on the job, really is about socially exchanging information and problem solving talk. This is the book I am also supposed to lead a group discussion on. I am really nervous and right now don't know what kind of new and insightful questions I am going to have to ask. The assignment about creating an HTML is not working, of course, I am getting tired with having no real direction with these assignments. These wasted hours just trying to figure things out cuts into time to read all of the interesting articles that are assigned to us. This book, social life, relates quite well with loads of information but 10 million problems that come along with it. I feel I am going through the same scenarios as the book is describing them!

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ho hum ho hum

I just started the book about social patterns found on the web. Its interesting but dry! I think he talks more about his methods than any actual findings--so okay I am only 1/2 way through but still just bullet point the similarities ;) Anyway I feel the clock tick, tick, ticking away as my readings and projects are fast approaching. It's always catch up, take a breath (a quick one) and catch up again. The whole Koha assignment doesn't seem to be working that well. i can't even log onto the server with the whole unix site. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved. We have family in town and with the holiday week it makes it so hard to get anything done. Well gotta scram.

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Passport Adventure

I finished Koha, yeeeeaaaaahhhh! Things are going really good at work. I volunteered about a month ago, yes I was/am still new on the job, to do this program called Passport to Adventure. It was crazy--I am so new i was actually kind of freaking out earlier in the week trying to think of what i could possibly do. My country is Thailand since I have been there before but I am excited to say i got most of it done today. So much pressure has been taken off me so I feel great. I found some cool facts, a Miss Elephant contest, Elephant Art Paintings,  music, and a cool craft. I will get the kids some coconut milk and hopefully I can find some cool Thai candy. I just hope the kids like it. I have never done a presentation where my audience was ages 6 to 10, besides my own kids. Anyway, I am starting a new book and guiltily admitting that i spent some time reading a "for pleasure" book. It is just such a good series and I miss reading for fun and entertainment. August-can't wait.  Signing off

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Movin' right along

Another paper down and a test too!! I feel like time is whipping by, I just can't believe I will be in Pittsburgh in 2 weeks. We have to lead a book review in one of my classes and I am really nervous. I think it is because I haven't met anyone in class, usually when I have something in class to do I know where  everyone stands in class (metaphorically, of course).  Because this is a master's program I feel like I will be at the bottom of the class-there seems like a most of the students are really smart! Another thing I don't understand is this Koha assignment due next week. It seems really confusing everytime I have tried to figure it out. All of the posts on the Blackboard are about scanning the internet for info, I couldn't get it there. Oh well, I just hope I can get it finished without being thoroughly frustrated.

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