ALA Annual Conference

I recently attended the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA as part of the student-to-staff program. This is an awesome program that ALA offers to library students. In exchange for the student working 20 hours during the conference, ALA pays for conference registration, lodging, and a stipend for food. I was placed with the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (or more commonly known as FAFLRT).

On Friday I attended FAFLRT’s all day session on “Careers in Federal Libraries.” The above picture is from a panel discussion during the day. That evening I went to El Torito for dinner and ACRL’s anthropology and sociology section annual social. Dinner was great and followed by a fabulous evening of meeting new librarians.

Saturday evening some other librarians and I went to see Ani DiFranco play at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. It was amusing to all of us that Ani was playing at Disney, but it was a great opportunity to see her. The show was awesome and we had a great time.

Sunday was full of various FAFLRT sponsored programming. I went to their board meeting, a discussion on the state of federal libraries, a program on “Gov 2.0: Going further with the Wikinomics folks,” and a presentation about “Researching, Archiving, and Collecting for the U.S. Congress.” After all of that, I went to the GSLIS alumni reception and then dinner with other students in Downtown Disney.

Monday morning was spent at a panel on “Feminist Publishing: The Evolution of a Revolution.” It was really good. Then I navigated the exhibits and went to dinner with my favorite librarian from my undergraduate college. Tuesday morning I scouted out free books from the exhibitors as they tried to lighten the load for the trip home.

These are just some of the highlights from my trip. I had a great time, learned a lot, and met a lot of people. Next year the ALA Annual Conference in is Chicago, so it won’t be as much as an adventure, but it will still be a great time. A few more pictures from the trip are on Flickr.

Flickr meme

I thought this was fun and wanted to try it - Flickr meme from latter day bohemian:

Here’s how it works:

* Type your answers to each of the questions below into Flickr Search
* Using only the first page, pick an image
* Copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker

Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

1. Michelle, 2. Dinner On The 52nd, 3. Scranton Pennsylvania Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, 4. pea boat, 5. Pickles with eyes., 6. The never ending story of the Chai wallah, 7. Preghiere al vento per la Birmania e tutti i popoli oppressi., 8. mmmummm..mummm…mmmmummmmumumum, 9. She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain 44/365, 10. pathway to heaven, 11. Step by step… steadily ♫♫, 12. Dale Chihuly in Toronto

Sexy Librarians

I got in from Chicago at almost 3am last night, so I do not have the energy to blog about the American Library Association conference in Anaheim just yet.  Instead, I wanted to share that Sublime Stitching came out with new patterns including Sexy Librarians!

I’m not going to go into the stereotype of librarians as old women, or even sexy women, with glasses and buns and the romanticized notion that we sit around and read books all day.  I’m just going to appreciate the combination of crafty librarianness.

Re: FW: A Very Sad Story - Menstrual Cycle - Please Pass On To Your Female Friends

This morning I received one of those annoying chain emails from my mother about continuous use birth control and I just have to comment:

PASS THIS ON EVEN IF YOU DO NOT USE IT

Recently this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31…newly graduated student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a Doctor…) was flown into a nearby hospital, because she passed out.

They found a blood clot in her neck, and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. By the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain; the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage.

Since last Wednesday night, she was battling… they induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow, they operated 3 times… Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do… they found multiple clots in the left side of her brain… the swelling wouldn’t stop, and she was on life support…

She died at 4:30 yesterday. She leaves behind a husband, a 2yr old Brandon and a 4yr old Justin… The CAUSE of DEATH - they found was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 times a year… They said it interrupts life’s menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA approved… shouldn’t be - So to the women in my address book - I ask you to boycott this product & deal with your period once a m onth - so you can live the rest of the months that your life has in store for you.

*Please send this to every woman you know - you may save someone’s life… Remember, you have a CYCLE for a reason !

The name of this new birth control pill is LYBREL . If you go to http://www.lybrel.com/, you will find at least 26 pages of information regarding this drug.

The second birth control pill is, SEASONIQUE . If you go to the website of, http://www.seasonique.com/, you will find 43 pages of information regarding this drug.

The warnings and side effects regarding both pills are horrible. Please, please forward this information to as many daughters AND sons, co-workers, friends and relatives. Several lives have already been changed

First of all, I cannot comment on the validity of this story, but I can say that every medication has risks. This is why there’s a laundry list of possible side effects read at the end of drug commercials on TV. One of the risks of birth control pills (and hormonal contraception in general) is blood clots. This is something to talk about with your doctor. If your risk is elevated, such as you have a family history of blot clots, smoke, are over a certain age, etc., then you must weigh the risks and benefits of taking birth control pills.

Whoever wrote the above “warning” also doesn’t understand how birth control pills work. Yes, “you have a CYCLE for a reason !” but the point of taking birth control pills is to alter this cycle so as not to become pregnant. (If you need to brush up on how the pill works, check out the Planned Parenthood website.) Birth control works by suppressing ovulation and generally thinning the endometrium (the lining of the uterus - which is why periods are usually lighter on the pill). If there is no egg and lining to shed every month, then having a period really isn’t that necessary. This is why women have been using continuous use birth control (i.e. only have 4 periods a year) in one form or another for years. So when people ask, “Isn’t continuous use unnatural?” Yes! Altering the natural course of the body could be viewed as unnatural which makes all hormonal forms of birth control, including the pill, unnatural.

Before products like Seasonique, women just took one pack of birth control after the other and skipped the “period pills.” (Please note, this works best with certain types of pills, so if you are thinking about trying it, please talk with your doctor.) Then drug companies got smart and decided that they could market this concept to women. Again, continuous use birth control may not be right for every woman, but many have benefited and enjoy having fewer periods.

artisan bread experiment: loaves #?, baguette, and bagels!

I can’t count how many loaves of bread I’ve made from this book.  There are round loaves, a baguette, and now bagels!  All taste great, look great, smell great - I can’t find anything wrong with these recipes.  I highly recommend this book so far.