Site o' the Week: The Virtual Museum of Cataloging and Acquisition Artifacts

Looking for a perfect gift for that special cataloguer? What about an electric eraser or some accessories for their electric pencil? This site is pretty neat.

Tell two friends

Last Friday, we went to a wine and cheese benefit for our campus's chapter of Engineers Without Borders. We went knowing very little about this group but left feeling not only impressed with the work they do but inspired by the strong, articulate and hopeful young women who spoke. The final speaker addressed the inevitable question "But what can I do?" and made a few simple but meaningful suggestions including this one: "Tell two people about what you learned tonight" and so I urge you to visit this group's site, read about the work they do, educate yourself, and get involved in any way that moves you. Anyone disillusioned with "the youth these days" should really spend an hour with these remarkable people.

More facebook haikus

Heidi is Badly Drawn Girl. 10:16pm

Heidi is having a hard time deleting her email from Barack Obama though she anticipates she'll be getting many many more of them in the months to come. 3:45pm

Heidi is chuffed that she just got an email from Barack Obama. 1:57pm

Heidi is feeling like Snow White. Only with vermin instead of cute woodland creatures. 1:03pm

Heidi is slightly worried about the pigeons she can hear but cannot see. Will her office soon be home to pigeons and mice? 12:27pm

Heidi is enjoying the peaceful, serene sounds of Dale ironing his shirts: "Wah! Argh! Ironing is not my friend, my friend.". 9:20pm

Heidi is pleased to discover that there IS a secret librarian handshake. Unfortunately, she can't share it with you unless you're a librarian. Because it's secret. 2:21pm

Heidi is trying not to let the Republicans make her say "Grrrrr Argh!!!" out loud. 2:19pm

Heidi is grateful for friends who bring her H&H Bagels from NYC! 10:11am

Heidi is feeling neo Dickensian. 9:39am November 18

Heidi is wondering how such a cute little cupcake can make her feel so very very ill. 7:32pm

Heidi is the happiest girl in the land: she has just returned from the amazing re-opened Detroit Institute of Art AND she has a cupcake. 6:34pm

Heidi is at her Reference desk en plein aire. 1:08pm

Heidi is not wanting to do her to do list... oh, what to do, what to do... 8:53am

Heidi is missing the serenity that filled her workplace at 7:45 am. 8:18am November 13

Heidi is remembering that Elmo also uses third person. Heidi thinks she'd rather sound like Elmo than Bob Dole. 8:39pm

Heidi is about to unleash her teeny tiny bit of celestial wrath: it's best not to ask about it. 7:53pm

Heidi is fond of this book title: How to Worry Friends and Inconvenience People. 4:05pm

Heidi is staking a claim to Antebellum Spice if Leddy does in fact switch over to a Spice Girls inspired nomenclature. 12:04pm

Heidi is only making plans for Nigel. She just wants the best for him. 10:47am

Heidi is wondering what becomes of the broken hearted who had love that's now departed? She knows she's got to find some kind of peace of mind. Maybe. 9:25am November 12

Heidi is practicing random acts of postmodernism. 7:51pm

Heidi is chopping leeks and crying like Tammy Faye: don't send $$; it's just the leeks making her cry. 6:13pm

Heidi is working on her difficult third album. 2:38pm

Heidi is singing little songs about Curtis. 9:12am November 11

Heidi is somewhere between being mortified by the moldy unidentifiable citrus fruit in the fridge and googling "make your own penicillin' on marthstewart.com. 4:03pm

Heidi is excited about having a PO box in Detroit but wonders if Dale's going to start ordering troll dolls or Hummel figurines on eBay with reckless abandon. 11:39pm

Heidi is naively hopeful that the "Opera Talk" she's attending at the Detroit Opera tonight will allude to "What's Opera, Doc?". 10:54am November 9

Heidi is thinking it's about stinkin' time Dale realized he's the Ricky Ricardo to her Lucy. 1:56pm

Heidi is noticing how normal conversations have been affected by facebook-speak: "Dale is waiting for Heidi and suggesting Heidi will be late." "Heidi is hurrying.". 11:33am

Heidi is glad someone finally said to her "Hey, weren't you Rum Tug Tugger in the touring production of Cats??". 10:34am

1. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.

My pal Alec and I took Davies' suggestions to heart and began a blog wherein we'll take at least one picture everyday. We've created a blog to host them. Although we've been doing it less than a week, I have to say it's an interesting exercise to make something fun and creative a daily priority. Check it out here.

Too good to be true??

There's a program I have on my Mac at work that enables my computer to pretend it's a Windows machine. Today, while waiting and waiting and waiting for something to open, this screen came up. I have no idea what this means but on the off-off-off-off chance that it's a humane solution to our rodent problem, I clicked inside the single window. It made me feel better anyway. I still won't leave my lunch bag on the floor though. Sorry little mice dudes.

Ruts: easy to get in and not so easy to get out of

Last night I was thinking about a story my mum once told me about traveling with her sister, my Auntie Lynn. After an indecisive conversation about what to do, my Auntie Lynn said "It doesn't matter what we do, just as long as we do something." I think about this story a lot since doing something is always better than doing nothing. I was thinking about this story last night because I believe I'm officially in a creative rut and am officially upset about it. Over the past months, I've stared at blank screens, blank pages, and blank surfaces. I've sharpened pencils, purchased new pens and lovingly smoothed the bristles in my favourite paint brushes. I've organized scraps of fabric, taken stock of paint, and managed a smile or two at a scenario for my dormant novel. I've dusted off my cameras and checked their batteries. I've stared at stunning art, I've read evocative books, I've listened to the most perfect songs. I've felt embers of creativity in me but I've done nothing with them. I've stared at my own creativity as I've stared at my orchid in its window perch these past few months: is that a sign of life? is that a root? a sprout? or just the potting bark? Am I going to get more flowers or just a leaf? All my staring and wondering will not make my orchid bloom: I just need to provide it with the sun and water it needs and then let it do its orchidy magic. After my full acknowledgment last night that I am indeed in a rut, I realized I am not providing creativity with what it needs to thrive. And so, this morning, after turning on the Four Tops at a volume wholly unsuitable for the stillness of the morning, I determined to do something rather than nothing. Very conveniently, my lovely friend sent me the perfect link this morning. He sent me a link to story called "How to Be Interesting" on Russell Davies's blog . In this entry Davies offers the following bits of advice which seem pretty inspiring to me.

1. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
2. Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
3. Keep a scrapbook
4. Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before
5. Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
6. Collect something
7. Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
8. Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it
9. Make something
10. Read:Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud, The Mezzanine - Nicholson Baker, The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte. All these books are good for their own reasons but they’re also good examples of people who are really interested in stuff that others think of as banal and who explain it in a way that makes you share their passion. That's good.

I'm going to use these ideas as a way to work my way out of my rut and will post various bits of whatever emerges from the above suggestions to this blog. I invite you too to do and share any of the above.

The new genre: perhaps why I have not blogged

Sonnet: a rhyming poem of fourteen lines with ten syllables per line, generally written in iambic pentameter.
Haiku: a poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables.
Facebook status update: a statement of no more than 160 characters beginning with your name followed by is.

This could be my literary niche. Here are some from the past month.

Heidi is noticing how normal conversations have been affected by facebook-speak: "Dale is waiting for Heidi and suggesting Heidi will be late." "Heidi is hurrying!"

Heidi is to Leddy Library what Gob Bluth is to the Bluth Family. 9:05am
Yesterday

Heidi is happy that Dale has joined the Blue Man Group. 8:35pm

Heidi is dressed like one of the "before" pictures from What Not To Wear but doesn't care since she's warm for the first time in 48 hours. 7:20pm

Heidi is once more wishing she had a walk up song for the reference desk. Dale voted for the I Dream of Jeannie theme. Heidi thinks that would work today. 10:45am

Heidi is looking forward to making dinner out of groceries purchased somewhere other than Shoppers Drug Mart; until then it's a toss up between KD and Campbells Soup. 5:42pm

Heidi is now able to purchase sushi or spinach dip without having to leave the library: a ballpoint pen is another story. 11:36am

Heidi is struck by how much Neil Young looks like Argus Filch in the Harry Potter Movies . 9:35am

Heidi is living proof that Halloween candy does not raise one's core temperature but makes the cold a lot more pleasant. 6:49pm

Heidi is wondering if there are "business casual" snowsuits. 12:07pm

Heidi is hoping to raise her core temperature. 11:00am

Heidi is looking at the bright side of no heat in her office: no mouse in his or her right mind will make her office its home. 9:18am
November 5

Heidi is still, is still Heidi from the block but now she's back on different block. 10:46pm
November 4

Heidi is still Heidi from the block and she's going back to her block today. 9:43am
November 3

Heidi is very sad the Giant Perogy is "way the hell up there.". 11:38pm

Heidi is googling and mapquesting "giant perogy" and is ooh so hopeful Dale is equally intrigued. 10:31am

Heidi is wondering what this statement she overheard yesterday on campus means: "Because if my house burns down, I'm going to have to sell my car.". 8:42am
October 31

Heidi is sad no one noticed she'd dressed up as Sylvia Plath today. 6:44pm

Heidi is agog having noticed the Facebook group: "Curtis Granderson is in Slytherin". 8:40am

Heidi is unaware that she had "an inner Michael Buble" and is moderately concerned that Dale thinks she does. 8:35am

Heidi is hoping she really didn't see people in PJs and bathrobes in the library yesterday morning. 8:32am
October 30

Heidi is trying to decide on her Reference Desk Walk Up song: Voodoo Child or the "I Dream of Jeannie" theme song. 3:53pm

Heidi is singing "hey la hey la my boyfriend's back" for no particular reason. 10:55am

Heidi is excited that it's cake day at Information Services. 10:24am

Heidi is summoning her inner pioneering jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. 9:05am
October 29

Heidi is surprised at how often she is mistaken for pioneering jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt while taking the Transway 1C. 4:56pm

Heidi is not carrying on the tradition of pioneering jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt in her day to day work. 2:04pm

Heidi is amused to realize you can sing "hey nonny nonny" to the tune of "hey macarena" though she's not sure why one might do it. 8:10am
October 28

Heidi is Converting all your sounds of woe/ Into. Hey, nonny, nonny. 8:34pm

Heidi is leaning toward the Bert side of the Bert-Ernie spectrum today. 9:45am
October 25

Heidi is recovering from laughing very hard at a picture of pug in a Yoda costume. 8:58pm

Heidi is wishing she didn't have a song from Waiting for Guffman running through her head. 5:52pm

Heidi is working on her letter to the Great Pumpkin. 9:54am
October 24

Heidi is miffed that Scrabulous doesn't think "nerdgel" is a word. 10:32pm

Heidi is staring out the window and swinging her feet and humming a song from atop her tall chair. 2:42pm

Heidi is hoping you all enjoyed "Take Your Giant Fern to Work Day" as much as Dale did. 2:00pm

Heidi is wondering if "this guy almost failed me as an undergrad so I won't buy his book" is a solid collection development selection strategy. 4:07pm

Heidi is trying to see the mouse infestation at work in a positive light: "wow! it's just like being on the set of 'Ratatouille'!". 2:25pm
October 22

Heidi is worried that the use of 3rd person in her status updates makes her sound like Bob Dole. 6:19pm

Heidi is feeling nostalgic for the days she spent as an understudy in the touring company of Cats. 9:30am October 21

Heidi is still laughing at Mart's ideas for the SuperLibrarin costume: gold plated index cards you can fling like kung fu stars at people who do misdeeds to books. 5:05pm

Heidi is hoping to get "Listen to the Flower People" out of her head very soon. 9:47am
October 20

Heidi is secure in her walrus-hood. 10:39pm

Heidi is like SO much more the Walrus than Dale. If anyone's the Eggman, it's Dale. 10:15pm

Heidi is the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob. 3:29pm

Heidi is wondering about the practicalities of dressing as the Lady of Shalott for Halloween. 3:49pm

Heidi is happy she didn't give into her temptation to yell "Adrienne! Adrienne!" at Adrienne Clarkson's lecture last night: She bets AC gets that ALL the time. 1:01pm

Heidi is happy the kitten who walked into our library is going to a good home. 10:42am

Heidi is regretting she'd even mentioned wardrobe malfunctions. 4:25pm

Heidi is wondering if Super Librarian should wear a cape or a cardigan. Or maybe a cape cardigan hybrid. 1:49pm

Heidi is chuffed she was "facebook friended" by the office mice; thanks guys! 12:49pm

Heidi is happy to have taught her class without a recurrence of this morning's "wardrobe malfunction.". 11:29am

Heidi is really hoping this morning's "wardrobe malfunction" was a fluke and won't repeat itself in her upcoming class and meetings. 9:10am
October 17

Heidi is newly enlightened by a student: "beauty is not in the eye of the beholder: you're ugly or you're not.". 2:13pm

Heidi is wondering if she's been good enough for the Coffee Fairy to come visit her... 1:42pm

Heidi is for some strange reason feeling a teeny tiny bit like a Ramone. 11:22am

Heidi is dancing to Joy Division and celebrating the irony. 10:04am
October 16

Heidi is hoping the office mice got the memo she left them asking if they'd do her photocopying for her. 10:00pm

Heidi is torn between saying "Oh! How cute! The office mice are having babies!" and "Oh. No. They're having babies...". 4:36pm

Heidi is finally recovering from the egg salad. 4:33pm

Heidi is wondering why it's so hard for her to remember to avoid the egg salad on campus. 1:13pm

Heidi is Listening to What the Flower People Say. 10:17am

Heidi is pleased to see A Critical Companion to Buffy the Vampire Slayer next to Beowulf on a shelving cart this morning. 8:22am
October 14

Heidi is multislacking. 10:43pm

Heidi is thinking about shushing someone...alas she is without her super-librarian cardigan. 1:13pm October 12

Heidi is in possession of $1.10 in Canadian Tire money. 4:19pm