Book of the Week: Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship by Alice Munro

This book was a collection of nine stories about love in general. It wasn't my favorite book to read, often I found myself struggling to continue on. As a result I never did fully complete the book. I selected it based on the past reviews stating that this author was one to read. Perhaps she is a great story teller, maybe her other books are more to my liking, I should seek some of them out for a future read.

I feel awful when that happens as if I am causing some sort of imbalance in the reading universe. Oh well. I'll try not to let my guilt affect my next selection.

How I fixed the printer

Our laser printer has been acting up this week. The patrons have never been pleased with its slow processing of documents (because waiting more than 1 minute would be too long). I think that if you consider its age the printer does quite well. But that's not good enough.

On Tuesday afternoon, I'm not sure how or why it happened, but the paper tray was not locking in properly. My student tried her hardest to get the tray to close but it kept popping out. She came to my door looking quite ruffled. I didn't know what to expect since she happens to be one of my best. I have no idea how long she fiddled with it until she came looking for me, but considering the sweat on her brow, it must have been a while of wrangling.

As I emerged from my office I observed an unusually large crowd of students, unhappy students. I approached the printer I was feeling a tad pressured. All the people watching and me hoping, wondering how I would, rather, if I could fix the printer. I removed the tray and inspected it, I was wondering why it wouldn't close. Then I noticed that the button you have to push in to unlock and release the tray was stuck/jammed into the handle. 'Brilliant' I thought. I flipped the tray over and found that the lock was stuck and just needed to be un-stuck. Using my index finger I gave the tray bottom a tap, the lock un-clicked and the handle released. I slid the tray back into the printer and all was well.

Yea! I'm the hero!

So today the printer had the same jammed handle. I was in a meeting all morning which made for a very stressful period of time for the service desk staff. (I forgot to show the others the trick) Due to the high stress and demand the computer lab coordinator sent an email stating that the tray was not working and to instruct patrons to print to another printer. Upon reading the message I went to fix the tray.

Afterwards I went to share the secret to our computer tech. I told him that I fixed the printer. He was very eager to hear my secret. So I said "I gave the tray a little tap on its bottom put it back in the printer and it closed." I went on to explain what was stuck. He handed me his tools and offered me his desk and job. Stating "Geez I don't see any reason for me to work here." He felt embarrassed saying "Yeah thinking about the obvious would never cross the mind of a tech."
We joked that all the essential tools for an IT person are: duct tape, hammer and screw drivers.

All joking aside our computer tech is awesome, and he does incredible things, when of course there are not 20+ angry patrons crowding around the printer.

Book of the Week:Where the Heart Is By: Billie Letts

I had a difficult time liking this book. It had many unhappy topics: domestic violence, kidnapping, deadly fires, homelessness, an unwed teen mom. It almost was too much.

A terrible thing happens to the main character Novalee Nation, a 17 year-old pregnant un-wed girl from Tennessee. On her way to California with her loser abusive boyfriend, Willie Jack, she is abandoned in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart parking lot. She is left alone 7 months pregnant, penniless with just the clothes on her back. At first she was optimistic that Willie Jack would return, thinking that he may be joking with her, but soon she realized that he indeed abandoned her. Abandon being the key word. He left Novalee with the responsibility of raising the child on her own.

Fortunately for Novalee, the Wal-Mart in this small city is the town square, and within hours she has met three people who will change her life: Sister Thelma Husband, a kind, eccentric, one-woman welcome-wagon; Benny Goodluck, a young boy who gives her a buckeye tree for good luck; and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly photographer who discuss with her the importance of a name for her unborn child.

Finding herself alone and homeless in Oklahoma she decides to make the best of her situation. For the next two months, Novalee makes herself at home in the Wal-Mart. She would hide in the store right before closing and wait until everyone left, once the coast was clear she would spend her night walking around the store. She used a sleeping bag and "borrowed" multiple items such maternity clothing, alarm clock, flashlight and toiletries. During the day she explored the town, mostly spending her time at the public library.

On the day she goes into labor and delivers her baby right at the Wal-Mart, soon after Sam Walton offers her a job. Her housing dilemma is solved when she moves in with a woman with a heart-of-gold. The rest of the book covers the next five years of her and her daughter's lives.

I found this book to be sad rather than uplifting. Probably because I began to wonder how often young girls just like Novalee have been in a similar situation, stranded all alone by the person they thought they could trust. However not nearly as many young women have the good luck Novalee had, a friendly community and people willing to help.

Book of the Week:The Dirty Girls Social Club by: Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez

I love this author's writing style. She certainly has a sense of humor.

The Dirty Girls Social Club tells the story of six Latina women in their late 20s who met at Boston University as freshmen. Their Buena Sucia "Dirty Girls" Social Club still meets twice a year. The book takes us on a journey into their lives, each chapter is written in one character's perspective. This was an interesting way to move along the story, you were not left wondering what another character was thinking. It was a very creative way of allowing the personality traits of the characters to emerge, making me feel connected to them. The chapters are laced with the humor and drama of their daily lives that reveals the strong bond that remains between them.

As the book progresses the reader learns more about the characters:

Usnavys: a large woman with Puerto Rican heritage that is the Vice President for Public Affairs for the United Way. She loves to live the good life, being treated like a queen, and expects nothing less from the men in her life; she has a fixation with money.

Sara: a stay-at-home mom to twin 5-year-old boys, she pretends to have the perfect sub-burban life yet lives in the shadow of her abusive, controlling corporate attorney husband.

Elizabeth: a beautiful former runway model turned co-host for a network morning show and finalist for a prestigious national news co-anchor position has a big secret.

Rebecca: a proud direct descendent of colonial New Mexicans she is owner and founder of a popular Hispanic woman's magazine and absolute perfectionist with a broken marriage to a lazy, wealthy man whose parents hate for marrying her.

Amber: a folk-rock en Español singer/guitarist waiting for a big break constantly struggling for success and inner peace.

Lauren: self described "Cuban white trash" that has a tendency to hook up with bad men and drinks too much. She works as a newspaper columnist, and has a mouth that fits her feisty spirit.
Fortune and tragedy befall these women but through their strength and support of one another they manage to find inner peace and balance. After reading this book you may wish you had girlfriends like these ladies.

Some Library Fun

Some years ago I came across this site. Intially I was searching for some general information on libraries to create a quiz-like game for my library's staff party. I wanted to provide a source of entertainment yet keep it relatively related to the profession. And it had to be fun.

When I located the Library Jeopardy site I was in heaven. It was absolutly perfect. Exactly what I was looking for in my game. It is a creative way to encourage MLS students and other library lovers to learn more about libraries. This website was created by MLS students at the Univeristy of Maryland.

Give it a try and see how well you do. It's fun and you can learn some trivia. Go on, play the game and then go impress your collegues with your new found library trivia knowledge.

Book of the Week: The Runaway Quilt : An Elm Creek quilts Chiaverini, Jennifer

This book was hard for me to put down. I enjoyed reading this so much. This is the fourth book in the Elm Creek Quilts series, yes this is the first one I have read, and yes I am terrible for going out of sequence. Regardless this book was very good. It made me think and it was fun.

The main character, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, returns to the family homestead, Elk Creek Manor after her sister Claudia's death. The homestead was a grand old house located near a creek nestled in a small farming community in Pennsylvania. The house became the site of a quilting camp started by Sylvia and her sister years before. Numerous women from all over the country came to learn how to quilt and be taught the importance of a tight stitch and honesty. Groups were paired and set up quilting-bee style forcing the participants to share stories and learn from one another.

Sylvia had moved away 50 years before due to a feud between her older sister Claudia. She loathed the return, fearing only bad memories would flood her thoughts. Yet she found that with the bad memories came fond ones.

The mystery begins with a ratty old quilt a young woman, Margaret, shares with Sylvia at a speaking engagement. Sylvia had made a name for herself in the quilting community and often traveled the country speaking to quilting groups. The young woman begins to stir curiosity with her "elm creek quilt". Margaret's quilt forces memories of a hope chest into Sylvia's mind. A chest that she has a key to that is hidden in the attic of her homestead. Sylvia discovers a dusty old trunk containing her great-aunt Gerda's memoirs and three mysterious quilts. As Sylvia reads her great-aunt's memoirs she learns of the past mistakes of her grandparents. The truth began to cause her to feel less proud of her family, and herself.

Her partner Andrew, the man she loves yet she will not admit, is her source of strength during her low moments. Throughout the story his goal is to marry her, yet she constantly pushes him away. I cannot understand Sylvia's disdain for being married. She constantly avoided Andrew and his affection. How terrible to think people to such things to others they love. Why was she so afraid to marry him? What was she going to lose? What causes people to do that?

After reading this book I am left to wonder about my own family. What are their secrets? Would I be proud or ashamed of them. What kind of people were they? Did my great-grandmothers have the same thoughts as I? So much to think about.

Closed Captioner shortage

I heard about this on the radio on my way home. MarketPlace has very interesting stories and this was something I never would have thought of. There appears to be a job shortage in this field. I suppose me being a person that does not rely on this I really hadn't thought about the need for this service. At my library we have a television in the lobby that runs CNN all day. Since this is a high traffic dual space we have the sound off and the closed captioning on so that patrons and us can understand what's going on. I find it extremely useful.

Stenocaptioners are stenotypists and voice writers that do the captioning for the television programs. They typically work for television stations or networks. They caption everything such as news, sporting events, or emergency broadcasts. Imagine an emergency, such as a hurricane. Many people's lives depend on the captions made by the stenocaptioner. Starting next year virtually all television programs will have to be closed captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing. That's job security for hundreds of trained stenographers who currently do the work. Problem is, there aren't enough of them to meet demand. The government in a hard place. There is an important need for trained stenocaptioners but not enough people can meet the strict standards.

Perhaps there is a need to promote this profession in high schools. You have to be able to type fast with minimal errors and be accurate. This profession needs to be promoted the right way. I'm sure more people will become interested, particulary those people that want to have some flexibility. The new trend to work from home may help encourage people to seek professions such as this.