Libraries and information

2014 Book list: 50 states

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Any list of states that leaves out DC pretty much bugs me, but 50 books in a year is easier than 51, so I forgive the curator of this one. A novel for each state. I’ve read Alaska already (LOVE MICHAEL SHEA-BON-JOVI CHABON.) I’ve also read Maine, and of course I’ve read Maryland (also a big fan of Michener). I can cross Michigan off my list, as well, but I’ll get my Eugenides fix when Rhode Island comes around. And New Hampshire (In July I bought A Prayer for Owen Meany just to round out my John Irving collection). Finally, I’ve read South Carolina already as well, which leaves 44 books to read in the year. Yes, many of them are classics and it is EMBARRASSING that I haven’t read them. Time to make up for that!

I’ve made myself a schedule, which I’m sharing here so you can join in the fun.

Here’s another list of books by state, also leaving out DC: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-famous-book-set-in-every-state-map-2013-10

Mundanities

On moving

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If all goes as planned, I will become the owner (part-owner, with a bank owning the rest) of my very first condo on Monday. Today’s task during my “lunch break” was getting estimates for movers. I’d forgotten in the last 5 years how much I hate getting estimates for movers.

And estimates are stupid, anyway. What do I need? I need to know how much you’re going to charge me per hour. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that if your moving company hires conscientious movers, they’re going to take about the same length of time as another company’s movers, assuming the team is the same number of people. So tell me that you have a 3-person crew, your hourly rate is $X and you add on $Y for travel time (or you don’t add on for travel time, or whatever), and I’ll decide which is the least expensive (or if there’s a reason to go with a company that isn’t the least expensive).

Unfortunately that plan gets all out of whack when one of the companies emails back and says that they don’t use 3-person teams, they use 5-person teams. So…quicker, but more expensive per hour. And suddenly the length of time becomes a factor. Will a 5-person team use the same number of person-hours as a 3-person team?

And, a consideration from my first time hiring movers: do I care, or how much do I care, if a company refers to its movers as “men” or as “movers”? I’d love to hear from you on this point.

 

Laws and regs, Libraries and information

On privilege

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Three things in the last 24 hours have me thinking about privilege.

First, Fobazi’s great post at Hack Library School about diversity and intersectionality. Read it, read the comments (seriously).

Then there was the guilty plea of Florida Rep. Trey Radel on drug charges. He said he’d get treatment so he was sentenced to probation. He’s white, he’s a politician, so he gets to say these things. What if he were one of his constituents? Would the charge still be only a misdemeanor? Would he have been able to get out of jail time by offering to get treatment?

And finally there was the brief exchange I had with a security officer at the courthouse this morning. I had a fork in my purse. (Also a container of pasta salad.) I realized as I crossed the street on my way into the courthouse that my fork might cause me trouble. It turned out it didn’t. Said the security guard as my purse went through the scanner, “you’ve got a big fork there. You’re not planning to stab someone with it, are you?” Me: “Nope.” Him: “Have a good day.” At first I thought “wow, sane security.” Then I wondered if it was sane security or privilege. I look like I’m not going to stab someone (white, smile on my face) therefore my fork is fine; if I looked different, would I have gotten the same reaction? I don’t know.

 

 

Laws and regs, Libraries and information

The fourth day in the life

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Home inspection day! Waiting for the typed up report, but just minor things that a quick visit from an electrician should take care of, I think. Tomorrow I must deal with insurance.

No progress on the spring semester schedule debacle. Last night I emailed a professor I’ve had before and who has taught the core class I still need to take. “I don’t know how much control you have over what you teach and when, but I am emailing with a fervent plea that if you are teaching [core class] this summer, that you teach it an a weeknight.” His response, paraphrased: “Probably not teaching it; you should contact the department chair.”

As my mom said, “been there, done that.”

As for work, today was editing day. Also known as hating people day. Picture here (because I’m too lazy to look for an image) a piece of paper covered in red ink. That was the first document I edited. It was unbelievable. It was like the person who wrote it took a blank piece of paper and said to herself “now, what are the parts of a bill, again?” instead of, oh, starting with an existing bill and changing the parts that needed to be changed. That was bad enough. Then came the second document.

The second document looked exactly like the first, except in terms of substantive details. I got it right when I was about to leave for the inspection, so I wrote back and asked the writer to look at the changes I made in the first document, make those same changes in the second one, and send it back to me. No reason why I should have to make the same changes over and over again, plus, this way I figured she would learn. Got back from the home inspection and saw that she’d sent it back to me. With none of the changes made. This is why I hate people. I don’t mind the editing.* It’s the editing of documents that I don’t think the author even read that I mind.

And that, friends, was my day. See you tomorrow!

 

*I proofread some court filings today, too, and I caught where the date was written “October 31, 2103.” Those are the fun things that I like to catch.

 

 

 

Libraries and information, Mundanities

Day three in the life

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This is definitely not the typical week of a library student. (Not that I know what a typical week looks like. I just know that this ain’t it.)

Today started out with a field trip for school (my first and hopefully last during library school). We went to the Department of the Interior for a demonstration of their electronic records document management system. The most interesting part was they have a method to auto-categorize emails and other documents using what amounts to artificial intelligence. Definitely the wave of the near-term-future.

Then back to the office to get some legal memos written and signed by the boss, some insurance shopping, some conversation with the lender for my mortgage, a committee meeting, a conversation with my boss, some pistachios, and then home. Time to take a breath!

About the pistachios: they are these. No one paid me to talk about them. They’re just That. Good. (And pretty necessary when you’re running on iced coffee and a muffin the size of Montana. Even though the muffin was the size of Montana.)

I’ve got quite the to-do list for tonight, including an effort to actually do school work on a day other than Sunday. Come back tomorrow for day 4, on which there will be a home inspection, review of condo documents, and a trip to the bank to drop off papers with the lender.