February 28th, 2010
While I generally really like my job and my interactions with people in the library are usually benign if not downright pleasant, there are times when working with the public is painful and/or downright infuriating. With the increasingly obvious pregnancy, I am subject to a daily barrage of predictions (it’s a boy!), observations (wow, that baby’s gonna be huge!), and far too many overly personal questions from library patrons. Why are people so oblivious to personal boundaries? I don’t need someone announcing to the entire library that I’ve “got one in the oven.” sigh.
The other thing I get to deal with on a pretty regular basis is the rude, super-demanding patron who asks for help with the computer only to declare I don’t know what I’m talking about. I know this happens because people are frustrated and feeling helpless, but nothing makes me want to quit my job faster than have some guy (it’s always a guy) demand help and then, when they don’t get the results they want, order me to “go get someone who knows something. double sigh.
Posted in library business | No Comments »
February 26th, 2010
even the dismal rain can’t ruin cherry trees in bloom. I love, love, love cherry trees and they never fail to make me really happy.
a few more pictures of pretty trees are here
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 15th, 2010
We spent the holiday weekend out in the Methow for an early anniversary celebration (still trying to squeeze in every last baby-free weekend we can). The weather was overall pretty dismal with the exception of Saturday morning, which offered fast(ish) tracks and even an hour or so of sunshine. Jeff did a big 60K day on Saturday while I managed some very slow skiing around Mazama. Despite the drizzly fog on Sunday morning we strapped on the skis and hit the trails again, with the ultimate goal of skiing the perennial favorite, “Jack’s Trail,” while I was still able. Oddly enough, my last baby-less day on skis was spent on the same trail as my last day as a single lady – what are the odds?
We stayed at the Rolling Huts in Mazama, which was super stylish and pretty fun.
Lack of comfy furniture made it not quite ideal for spending long lazy days in front of the fire, but they were pretty sweet nonetheless. A few more pictures of the huts are here.
Posted in babymoon, pregnancy, sporty | No Comments »
January 21st, 2010
After three long years of serving on YALSA’s BBYA committee, I wrapped up my final committee meeting on Tuesday. It’s been quite an experience, rather challenging at times, but I think I came out better for it in the end. Our final list was published here, along with our Top Ten List. Some committee changes means that this is the last year of BBYA as we know it, so I’m extra glad I was able to participate. I don’t know how many books I’ve read over the past three years, but it’s got to be well over 1000. Pure craziness.
I convinced Jeff to come out to Boston for a few days while I was at the ALA conference, partially so that we could have a mini vacation (aka “babymoon”), but also so he could see just what, exactly, I’ve been spending all my time on for three years. We did manage to squeeze in a little bit of sightseeing, including a long long walk around the snowy city and to the neighborhood we lived in when I was five. Here I am in front of 7 Cedar Street, our home in 1975:
We also did some touristy things, like walking part of the Freedom Trail. Living in the PNW, I tend to forget how old things are back east. Here are a couple of pictures from Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, which has been in existence for about 350 years. The gravestones were incredible; all tilted and crowded, plus the weather made it all a little spooky:
a few more pictures are here.
Posted in babymoon, books and literature | 1 Comment »
January 12th, 2010
Posted in ginormity, pregnancy | No Comments »
January 10th, 2010
Buddy is generally a pretty good sport about most things, but I never expected we would get away with something like this (hooray!):
Posted in baby fashion, buddy | No Comments »
January 10th, 2010
today marks 25 weeks. damn, but the time does actually go by pretty quickly! It’s getting much harder to do even basic stuff (like tying shoes, picking up the million things I seem to drop on the floor every day, getting in and out of the car, the list goes on…). We did go skate skiing today, though, and it felt really great to be outside getting some much needed exercise. I was doing a little bit of double duty by listening to an audio book while skiing, since I still have a whole mess of books to read before I head to Boston on Friday. Normally I really like listening to audio books while skiing, but I’m currently working my way though The Forest of Hands and Teeth. It’s an awesome book and I’m really enjoying it, but listening to a super gruesome story about a village being attacked by zombies didn’t really jive with my relaxing day in the mountains. (still, I recommend it – good frightening stuff!)
Posted in books and literature, ginormity, sporty | No Comments »
January 1st, 2010
one of the first questions people ask us when they find out about the knocked-upness is “you aren’t going to stay in your apartment, are you?” well, the answer is yes, at least for a few years. while our place is indeed small, we are pretty sure we’ll be able to manage it for a while, especially since we plan on keeping baby supplies to a minimum. Besides, our place looks positively spacious compared to what some other people are doing. We could be living in a place half the size of ours or, if that isn’t challenging enough, we could move into a yurt totally off the grid without running water or indoor plumbing. see, we’ve got it pretty cush!
Posted in living space | No Comments »
December 27th, 2009
The last two weeks have been pretty hectic with holiday madness and all, but I think we’ve finally caught up on sleep and managed to take a collective breath and relax for a couple of days this weekend. today, Jeff and I took advantage of the glorious weather and headed up to Snoqualmie Pass for a little skate ski session. I wasn’t sure how I would do, given the state of my ever expanding belly and increasing feebleness, but it turned out pretty great. Dead flat terrain made for pretty gentle skiing and I skated for almost two hours – much longer than I had anticipated. I was damn hungry afterward and finally succumbed to the necessary nap around 6:00, but a successful day all around.
Posted in holiday, sporty | No Comments »
December 27th, 2009
it’s no secret that I looooooves me some x-mas music. I can generally hold off until December 1, but after that, all bets are off and it’s all x-mas all the time. I’m always looking for something new to add to the collection, and this year we totally hit the jackpot. I don’t know how Lou Rawls has escaped my notice until now, but we heard his version of “Little Drummer Boy” on Greg Vandy’s Christmas edition of Roadhouse (another highly anticipated annual event) and made an immediate purchase. highly recommended.
Posted in holiday, music | No Comments »
