Just finished reading ... "206 Bones"

I do like a good mystery, with a touch of the macabre thrown in for good measure. Which I guess is why I enjoy Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs so much.

I found 206 Bones a good read, particularly with the little twist in the end. The plot was not predictable, the characters underwent a credible development, the action was well-described. At times the use of language was a little heavy, but still eminently readable.

The downside was Ms Reichs' stereotypical portrayal of The Librarian, including the actual appellation of 'the dragon'. I guess I can live with this small flaw if I concentrate on the fact that this was the viewpoint of the character, not the author. At least I hope so. I'd have to check with the author to get an accurate assessment; it's always best to go to the source for confirmation. Isn't it?

I think that Cornwell may be a marginally better writer, with Reichs' a marginally better 'storyteller'; if that makes any difference to anyone.

This was one of my pre-Christmas purchases; with the closure of two major book stores at my local mall, I'm happy to say the book-nook (not its real name) is a pretty good substitute. Not a big range, but a more consistently interesting bargain table. What you throw up on the swings lands on the round-about? Or words to that effect ...

Competition Notification: Random House

Whatever else I may be, I am consistent. I didn't win the recent mega-lottery ($35 million), nor any other major prize. Or minor one for that matter; although I did once win ten bucks in a game of chance. As far as I know that wasn't declarable on my income tax, but I guess I should have notified the Tax Office anyway, just in case.

Anyways, for those who like a dabble, Random House is offering chances in a prize. I can't give you the URL, coz The Usual Parties may well consider that I might be benefiting in some way - which past experience confirms that even one cretin with such a belief is sufficient to generate a complaint; two cretins sharing such an erroneous belief got me into huge pooh. Or poop, if you prefer.

And no, offering proof makes no difference to the determination; a review is apparently not an option. Nor does making an official complaint about the determination, the lack of investigation, and the clear denial of Natural Justice or even just a fair and unbiased investigation make one scrap of difference ...

I may have digressed there for a minute. Good luck with Random House's offering.

Season's Greetings, and Bah Humbug from the Cat

Although the family Christmas feast is still 24 hours away, Christmas eve dinner is already in the planning stages, although the actual 'menu' is still being decided.

In the mean time, the table is in the process of being 'dressed - and the cat is more than ready to start eating anytime some food might appear.

Northern hemisphere friends are likely to notice the air conditioner - instead of a fireplace or central heating-type climate control.

Expected temperature is around 28 to 30 degrees C. Humidity will be high enough to render a BBQ a little uncomfortable - at least here in Sydney.

Tomorrow is Christmas for us and ours. Whatever you do with your day, whatever your beliefs, may the day be peaceful, happy and safe.

Munching in the Twilight Zone

In the spirit of what is clearly the absolute worst of blogdom, thought there may be someone who'd like to know that a colleague and I have just returned from visiting our closest vending machine.

Although this was not quite haute cuisine, Family Christmas is but a few days away, where I'm sure I'll consume calories at levels that are neither healthy or safe. And more than likely enjoy every last nibble of the same, food wise.

I'm still searching for high-carb reading material with little or no redeeming literary merit. Yummy!

Yes. I am back.

A lovely two-week Long Service Leave has now finished, and I am back at my desk after a 14 day cruise to New Zealand. Pretty good, apart from 2 days of sea-sickness when the swell was over 4 metres (and remember that's an *average* height).

(I did embark as a passenger, but got rolled off as cargo at the end. Who'd have thought that eating almost constantly for two weeks would cause a weight gain?)

But what's almost even better, I'm back for only two days, then it's another five weeks of annual leave. Nice, huh? I think the world will manage to continue on without me at The Desk.

Of course, I will still be at a keyboard, although at a secret location known only to the Australian Taxation Office, the Electoral Commission, the Roads and Traffic Authority, local and state governments, my employer, Australia Post, and a few hundred other government and non-government organisations ...

Yes, we have no bananas?

I don't know what the library funding situation is in real-world Banana Republics, but it sure is thin on the ground over here in this part of the world. Particularly school libraries.

Our wonderful public libraries seem to be provisioned by very proficient bean-counters, or possibly very dedicated and scary Friends of the Library folk.

Media coverage of what appears to be completely unrelated events does help shine a feeble light on the matter though.

On November 29, the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald announces Federal budget cuts, complete with a table of figures to lend it that patina of gravitas. Then on December 1, we learn from Page 1 of the Sydney Telegraph that our politicians have been given a huge pay rise - by an independent tribunal, of course. So the Australian prime minister will earn more than the American president.

Of course, the purists will say that these are federal matters, and school funding is a state one. To which the answer is of course 'pffft', particularly given the official Government Response to School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in the 21st Century Enquiry.

Yep, things are grim. Nope, you ain't gettin' any money to fix it.

Best 'Book Competition of the Day'?

What would be a better prize, a years' supply of books, or a trip to New York?

That'd be easier to answer if the second option was four trips for one person?

What the heck! I'm happy to take either. Mind you, I'm not giving you the URLs for either one, coz there's this little tiny core of evil people waiting to make yet more assumptions and subsequent complaints to do with my being in the pocket of mega-multinational corporations and somehow making a squillion dollars. Which would of course explain why I am still in an entry level position - with a commensurate salary - in a school library.

What need to do now is find out how to phonetically represent that sound you make when you're drinking and laughing simultaneously, and the drink comes out of your nose.

eBooks: Still a long way to go

So, the retail store that was bankrupt into closing and has now re-opened as an online store sure has a whole truckload of items on offer, including eBooks. Time to load up the olde eBook reader for the holidays. Hmmm ... what to buy when mere cents are required?

Lets try the old 'humor' search and see what's on offer. And just who is this author?

How cheap can cheap books get?

Monday's drive out to Penrith in the stinking heat in a non-air conditioned vehicle was the pits; but well worth the trip to participate in the Western Sydney Region Teacher Librarians' 2012 National Year of Reading Think Tank, hosted by Penrith Public Library. Great ideas getting tossed around there.

As an extra special bonus, I got to visit the cheap book place everyone is talking about, in the adjacent Penrith Plaza. Sure does have a heap of quality books for the minuscule amount of five bucks. Good luck to my colleagues who are authorised to take advantage of these retail outlets. I'm still trying to figure out why that select group school principals, who control the working conditions as well as the budgets of school library folk would object to getting a little more bang for their buck.

Anyways, having traversed the shopping mall to get to the library, just outside the library were paperback spinners stacked with library culls selling for 20 cents each. Oh boy!

But in today's email came what has to be the cheapest of the cheap books. A company called Free eBooks wrote to tell me that they currently have a 50% off sale ....

2011 Best Books?

The UK Guardian Newspaper has published its list of the Books of the Year.

I don't want to say too much about this list, cos there's a few 'personnel' who may complain to the 'authorities' (again) that it somehow shows I have a financial interest in the Guardian newspaper, and I'd be in yet more poop.

There's got to be something wrong with a government system that says they don't have to proved guilty of an unfounded allegation for which there is no proof; you that have to prove yourself innocent - when even Blind Freddy can see it's a malicious and vindictive complaint. Not to mention a backlog of allegations of which you aren't even informed!

No, no ... we're not speaking here of San Salvadore or any similar country. This is Australia, a Constitutional Democracy. Or so we teach in our schools.

A financial interest in the publication? Heck, I don't really even have an interest in their best books list ...

Dessert. Yummy!

So you take your basic After-Dinner fare, and look at the choices for presenting it so it is a delight to the eye as well as the palette. Mmmmm. Add ice cream, cream, or both?

And just think! Shortly there'll be an addition with blood pressure apparently well on the way up!

Ah, the carefree life of library folk with the sound of the beeping of bar code scanners during stock take; the cheerful discussion about what eBook reader is best for libraries with very small budgets - not to mention various formats for eBooks and proprietary software for same; the future of the profession hanging in the balance once again; the generation of yet more policies, procedures and documentation.

So much to do ... (Part 1)

Today I collected up all my borrowed stuff, and returned everything to the library. What exhausted me was the next six hours on the 'net looking for this picture. Isn't it brilliant?

The Use of Positive Attitudes

Days of Celebration: Do we need a few more?

I was very disappointed to find out that World Zombie Day had come and gone (October 8th), without my even knowing about it. So, as one does, I went a-searching for any other significant day of which I should be aware.

Who knew that there was International Awesomeness Day? Given that it's on March 10th (Chuck Norris' birthday), there's plenty of time (now) to prepare for the next one.

Seems to me like there should be a whole raft of other days of international celebration. Anyone got any suggestions?

This Week's Achievements

This week I completed over 2 thousand data entry units, plus relocated over two tons of resources. Luckily the resources were on wheels! And had power steering with air conditioning and quite a good sound system ...

The current gig is still continuing, but comes up for review in a week. Makes me think of the posters about "what has been seen cannot be unseen". A person could do worse with their time to do a Google image search for that. Just a thought, not a suggestion or anything, you understand?

Wise Words for today: Sarcasm

Grammar is not a dirty word, is it?

Original author unknown. Will acknowledge when author is tracked down.

The Bookcase Project

PhilipMSr responded to Rules for a Home Collection Weed (10/8/11), and wrote:

"I like the photo and wish you would add it to my bookcase photo collection site. I have two Australians which view the site, but not bookcase photos from them. Please share this comment with your fan base so there will be more representation from Australia."

So there you go, PhilipMSr. I hope you won't be too disappointed to find out that book cases in the Antipodes are pretty much the same as anywhere else on the planet.

Screaming Part 2: Stressed Librarians

After searching for suitable AV material for Information Literacy Lessons, I came across this invaluable piece of advice for library folk who need a good scream. I'm just about to go do the costings for this project, which I think should have top expenditure priority in any library. Picture hopefully coming soon ...

TED and Conventional Wisdom

I signed up with TED today. Did you ever see that bumper sticker [slash] t-shirt [slash] poster that said "Everyone's entitled to my opinion"? I suppose this is a reaction against that other saying "If I want your opinion I'll give it to you".


And speaking of supplimentary wisdom, I wish that I'd thought of this when I was asked (by someone 20 years my junior!) hadn't I heard about "not hanging out the dirty washing in public"? The circumstances you can guess at, but if I'd been in a different frame of mind I may well have countered with "is that like sweeping the dirt under the carpet?".

Ah well. Yet more of l'esprit de l'escalier.