mayhap | Quick look-in

Today I spent another couple of hours putting stickers on the spines of books identifying them as belonging to our branch, an exercise of extreme pointlessness.

Why, you ask, was this so pointless? Well, these were reference books, so they pretty much stay put ...

I am not complaining that they want to pay me to do this, however. Not one bit.

I will complain, however, that the public restrooms are still under construction, with no end in sight. The construction workers haven't even bothered to put in an appearance lately. I understand that once they have finished, our employee bathrooms will be next to go, but I am certain that I will be long, long gone by the time.

I need to sit down right soon and finish up my Bellatrix/Ginny fic for

pornish_pixies, which has gotten to the stage where what I actually need to do is cut a bunch of it out to make it a better story. I hardly ever end up writing like that, making tonnes of useful writing and editing advice generally unusable to me. ;)

Edit: Things I am anxiously awaiting:

Columbo: The Complete First Season

My dad loved, loved, loved Columbo, starting in the 70s. He imparted this love to me by calling for me whenever he found it on TV so we could watch it together. Love Peter Falk and his rumbly, grumbly voice. (You may also know him as the grandfather in the Princess Bride. You quite possibly don't know that he has a glass eye.) Love Columbo and his trenchcoat and his "Just one more thing ... " Love inverted mysteries--many of the classic episodes have quite good ones, too.

Peter and the Stargazers, a Peter Pan prequel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Happened to hear about this flipping through Writer's Digest on break at the library, of all things. Dave Barry is my man since childhood, and it really looked from what I saw like it's going to be a nifty book.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Columbo AND Dave Barry news in one post! No matter what else might happen today, I now know that it was, in fact, worth getting out of bed this morning.

I, too, was trained by my dad from an early age to appreciate Columbo. In fact, we usually still watch it together on Saturday afternoons at 2:00 on channel 55, where it's aired for as many years as I can recall, a refreshing constancy in an ever-changing world. Is constancy a word? Well, never mind. My dad is also to blame for my Dave Barry obsession, but I'm sure said obsession has been oft mentioned and well documented elsewhere.

I was the one who turned my dad onto Dave Barry, in fact. I was precociously young--I had to have been at least seven or eight, because we were living here, maybe more like nine--and I read an excerpt of Dave Barry Slept Here in Reader's Digest (this was back before it consisted of exactly three articles--"Lose lots of weight on diet X"; "Heartwarming story of tragedy and loss eventually overcome"; and "Are You Scared of X? Well, why the hell not?"--interspersed with the ads and amusing anecdotes which have expanded to take over the rest of the magazine, which is now one third as thick). I knew I had to read more by this guy, so I managed to find Dave Barry Slept Here at our library and ordered everything else he had ever written at the time.

My dad picked it up and started reading it, and next thing we knew, he was laughing hysterically, out loud, and at length. Which, for my dad, was pretty darn impressive, indeed. Ah, those were good times ...

You can imagine how excited I was in AP American History when we finally got to study ...

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Oh man. I don't think I can mention

often enough. It was to my great disappointment that I do not believe there was a single question on our test about

which is too bad, because I was all about it.

In eleventh grade (circa 1995) I had the coolest history teacher ever and I actually gave him a copy of Dave Barry Slept Here and as proof of his coolness he would occasionally -- not often, but still occasionally -- make references to it in class. One day he was talking about The Hawley-Smoot Tariff and kept repeating and emphasizing the words "Hawley-Smoot Tariff" more than was strictly necessary for the lesson and it was just about the Highlight of my Entire Life.

Another highlight of my life was when I got to speak to Dave himself (!) at a book signing a couple of years ago, and told him that I used find ways to cite him as a source in my high school papers, which is true. For example, in global history class (in tenth grade with a much less cool teacher who wouldn't have known the difference) I once wrote a paper on World War II in which I said, quote, "Historian Dave Barry has referred to Belgium as 'the screen door of Europe.' And rightly so." So anyway I told him that, and he laughed. I made Dave Barry laugh! Will wonders never cease.

All right, that's quite enough gushing for now... pardon my self-indulgence there. :)

That rocks. Hardcore. In so many ways.

SO, if the public restrooms are under construction, where does the public go for all their restroom needs?
And where are the employee bathrooms anyway?

where does the public go for all their restroom needs?

Elsewhere. ;)

And where are the employee bathrooms anyway?

In the area accessible by going through the door straight back behind the circulation desk, or also by going through the door on the right-hand side of the area behind the circ desk.

Quick look-in

I would need to sit down, if I weren't already sitting

Muah

Oh yes!

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Re: Oh yes!

Re: Oh yes!

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