Library Journal - The Rescuers--Politicians of the Year 2005

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see those two smiling faces on the cover of Library Journal. Even though the article seems a bit of a whitewash of the situation and the administration, I am very pleased to see Nutter and DiCicco get well-deserved praise. They put their reputations and their mouths on the line for Philadelphia libraries. Hear, hear!

LibraryThing!

A new toy:

Eek. I made Blogger mad:
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You can also try going to www.librarything.com and looking for lislemck's catalog. I tried putting it in the side bar, but eberything got wonky! I have spent many hours today ironing, but I am not done. Bah. I loathe ironing, but packing work clothes in suitcases for one month=many wrinkles. Another interview tomorrow. What to wear? Plus orientation for San Diego County on Friday, when it is hoped questions about health insurance will be answered. Assuming I passed the background check...

So I haven't felt up to much blogging. Didn't want to overwhelm the biblio with the blather. Plus it is not comfortable sitting on an ottoman at a coffee table and typing. I am OLD. Plus I am not at a library. Questioning my librarianness. Writing posts in head while ironing. The reading has been unsatisfying, though I am still hoping Guen will pick up...

we make money not art: Japanese Universities Hiring Manga Professors

Just what is needed (are you reading this, Miss Monster?):

According to asahi.com, Kyoto Seika University created the first school of Cartoon & Comic Art in Japan in 2000. That was the beginning. This spring, additional three universities created similar schools and courses for students to study manga, anime and games.

Osaka University of Art recently created Character Creative Arts Department. The dean of the department is comic artist Kazuo Koike and at least two of the 23 professors are well-known comic artists (Go Nagai who created Mazinger Z, Devil Man, Harenchi Gakuen, etc. and Machiko Satonaka who created Ariesu no Otome, Asunaro Zaka, etc.).

This April, Takara Zoukei University created School of Media Contents with a focus on movies, animation, and games. Professor Reiji Matsumoto is a well-known comic artist who created Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, etc. He recently did some anime work for French band Daftpunk.

Finally Otemae University recently created a manga and animation course. Monkey Punch is a professor there.

Well, at least someon's making money!

We-make-money-not-art

via BoingBoing

Yesssss, we have Firefox!

Life is so much better already. Plus I got a job. Not the dream job, but employment with fringe benefits (how much longer can we call medical insurance fringe?). I will be branch manager at a small branch in East San Diego County. Boyfriend says I will learn my Christian romance authors. Hmm. We shall see.

There is soemthing definitely wrong with me. I consider downloading Firefox more newsworthy that a job? Scary. First paycheck, I am buying an ibook. No, must buy a car first! Soon, though. Then I can sit on the balcony with the dog, admire the trees, and blog...

8 days ocean-to-ocean, part I

I keep thinking about what I want to cover in this post. I finally realized it was more than I could cover in one post, and so I am just starting off.

The beginning may be a very good place to start, but that would not be my style of blathering. I will tell you off the bat that our highest price paid for gas was $3.409/gallon. That was in New Jersey, in the middle of the beginning, and, boy, did paying $45 to fill the Ford Taurus rental's tank give me pause! However, there was no choice but to continue on. Do you know that when you look at gasbuddy.com for Arizona, it displays the entire state on one page? Is this because gasbuddy isn't popular in AZ, or are there only a page work of filling stations there? IAC, fuel for the trip cost approximately $310. If there is a class-action suit against the oil companies for price-gouging after Katrina, let me know!

OK, we did spend 4 days and 3 nights beside the Atlantic Ocean in Wildwood Crest, NJ. My extended family heads there every year for the last week in August. Unfortunately, the offspring could not join us as she had to start college (!) that week. Very tough. But the boyfriend found the only motel on the South Jersey coast that takes dogs several years ago. I'd made reservations back in March, before my life plans had changed. Maybe other people would not consider 3 nights with extended family in Wildwood Crest the best start to a cross-country trip. But it was exactly what I needed: a chance to decompress a little after packing and divesting like mad, and a chance to spend time with the clan before I won't see them for a while.

Boyfriend rented a surfboard for the post-hurricane waves. Waves were all blown out. That sounds callous. It was an ill wind. I am so glad I had no TV in front of me most of that week. I saw enough. We have a good friend in New Orleans. I was looking forward to staying with him at ALA next June. He is safe in Nashville, but his house is likely gone, and his final semester at Tulane Law??? We sent him info about Cornell, but haven't heard back from him.

Agh, Blogger munched a longer version of this post not once, but twice! Must download Firefox! Must install printer! Must look at OS version. But right now, must go back to being beachfrau...

Forgot!

One: having received more comment spam, I have enabled a word verification thing on comments. I know there are issues around word verification and the visually differently-abled. I am sensitive to that. Please let me know if this impacts your ability to comment. You can email me at library.lisle at gmail.com.

Two: i have attempted to take the word "blog" out of the blog title just to make it shorter. I have no idea what the impact will be, or if it even worked! Really must do other things, but let me know if I have screwed up everything! Thanks.

The unbearable whiteness of being and unrelated miscellany

Check out The Whiteness of Wi-Fi. I got there from an Utne Webwatch article . I've moved from one "majority minority" city to another. I need a tan! No, that won't help; fact is I can pass for WASP (which I am not), or Dutch at best. A group I worked with a few years ago posed the question, "What can we do personally to end racism?" At the time, I felt the best way was via my interpersonal relations. I still think that is important, but we need to address the larger institutional issues/policies. I was sorry neither article mentioned the excellent Media Tank, who fought the good fight and won for Philadelphia.

Arg. Either Blogger has changed or I can't access edit functions via Safari. One day soon I am downloading Firefox. But I should not complain. This is not my computer, but I have good access plus the new apartment has free wifi from an unknown source. Thank you internet deities and thank you big time to the unknown source. I never complain about free wifi. I used to tell people my ISP was my upstairs neighbor, Zach. I was worried about missing him. Actually, I do miss him, and it is weird saying my ISP is an unknown source!

I must away to iron outfit for interview tomorrow. Had a different interview yesterday, and another scheduled for Friday. Let's hope having a full dance card pays off. I am tired of interviews. One day unemployed, with one more paycheck expected, and I am making myself crazy. OK, you say I was already crazy.

Still plenty to do unpacking and organizing! Oh, if anyone is in the San Diego area, or knows somene who is, the 8x8x5' crate stuffed with my worldly goods arrives here 9/19 and we would be happy to treat any helpers to beer and pizza! There's an elevator! But long halls. Must look at handtruck prices. Saturday is my birthday, so we could make it a party...well, at least have cake. I do not like birthdays, and prefer them to pass unregarded, so do not think this is a shameless plug for cards and prezzies. The no prezzies rule remains in effect!

Toads, hummingbirds, cadillacs, open pit mines, the wild weary west

I am sneezing from the dust and cobwebs in here, but doing my best to provide a brief update.

I have gone for more than one week without internet access. Oh wait, I got to check my mail once in Columbus in a family room with an 8 year old who wanted to play video games, and a 4 year old who wanted to cuddle. But besides that, eleven days. I cannot bear to open my Bloglines, not even for Doonesbury and Boondocks. Sob.

I have kept a small log in a steno pad in the car, but of course, I don't have it now. If none of you knew, the Ford Taurus consumes gasoline in large quantities. I believe our highest price was $3.40. Now I want a Prius, even though the name bothers me.

I will fill you in on the beauty of Fallingwater and the OCLC campus, the toad the dog shouldn't have eaten, losing all my pre-St. Louis pix when I tried to turn off my flash at the top of the arch (what does FORMAT mean, huh?), the glory of Cadillac Ranch and Texas rest areas, sitting among a swarm of hummingbirds, wanting to sleep for days due to a mild cold (ware cuddly 4 year olds!).

Tomorrow, we make San Diego. I still don't have a job, but I now have 3 interviews scheduled for next week. Just need to unpack outfits, purchase steamer (?), take large breaths and dazzle.