Lucky me...

I like my job but it's still good to be Friday. We've just received a bunch of money that we were expecting (a little more than we expected) from the NYS retirement system and so we're going to go out and spend it all! Woohoo! It's good to have the money to buy the things we have to get anyway: bed that's not broken, couch that's not mouse infested, computer that actually works, paying back people so they don't hate us... little things like that.

My daughter's getting pretty popular at school. Apparently, all the kids know her name and approach her like a celebrity sometimes, she's just been invited for a sleepover... She's only been in this school for a few weeks and she's turning into the senior kindergarten prom queen! Ironically, I had this pseudo flash of ESP, my son being interested in football or hockey or baseball or something... I certainly hope that my children don't become "popular kids". I would really hate that. *shiver*

I don't really believe in luck. It seems to me to be simply a creation of ours to describe an aspect of another concept I don't really think exists: probability. Now, I don't mean to say that everything has the same probability or something like that. What I mean is that the science community pretty much starts with the concept that things are predetermined. With that as an assumption, there can be no room for a phenomenon like probability. What probability is (and is still important in this role) is a tool related to measuring how much we know about an event's predetermination. The only problem in this paradise is quantum theory and it's quite specific inclusion of probability as a real and influential property of events and situations. I don't know enough to figure out whether this affects things or not. Anybody?

Reading: Not sure right now. I've got that "Road Less Travelled" book my mother has asked me to read. It's taking me a little to get into it, but I'm trying. There's a couple other books I've found here a Bracken that I might take out. Ooooo... temptation!

Losing things...

My daughter lost her first tooth yesterday. I had totally forgotten about her losing teeth until she started wiggling it around (ewww...). And the tooth fairy came last night and gave her 2 dollars for the yucky thing! What does the tooth fairy exactly do with these teeth: make necklaces? grind them down? build castles? sell them to people without teeth? Hopefully, I find out soon.

Making some progress on painting our bedroom. (It will be Scotland Isle Green. Isn't that prescious?) Yes, I said good-bye to that horrible baby blue paint before covering it up.

And I'm finishing reading that Al Franken book, the one about liars. He's funny, but boy is it depressing after example upon example. And I don't even live in that country!!! Anymore. Can't we all just get along and tell the truth and be nice and... I don't know. C'mon people.

Puzzling...

I've been really into these sudoku puzzles lately. I've been doing around 3 or 4 a day. They're really cool: 9 boxes of 9 squares each, using numbers 1 through 9 once only for each row column and 9-square box. Check it out:

1. Lovatt's Sudoku
2. Sudoku Online
3. Times Online: Sudoku

A lot of people say they don't like them. "Oh, I'm no good with numbers. I'm no good at math." IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MATH! It only uses numbers because they're familiar, but it could be shapes or colours or letters for all it matters. It's just patterns, that's all. Give it a try people! It's fun!

Getting ahead...

It was an ok weekend. Didn't get much done: grocery shopping, moved what little bedroom stuff we have out to the living room and prepped the former for painting, set up the broken computers (with the intent to fix them), watched TV and lounged around with the wife and kinds. Enjoyable but unproductive. Bad me. I've got to come up with a easy and effective way of listing things I have (and want) to do while not at work.

Found this about Google sucking up to librarians. Maybe it will work. I like and hate Google so evenly... I don't know who I want to win.

And I just came back from sitting in on a presentation given by a hopeful for an open position at the library system here. Good luck Rajiv! I think you did quite well. You gave me some good tips for my next interview! (No, really.)

I should start writing things again... Anything.

Excuse me...

Ok. These people sicken me.

Check out the muscles on that librarian...

I just finished a one-on-one session with a medical faculty member on using the library's resources and, in particular, the medical databases. The power I wield! *laugh* Yeah, you all don't know it but librarians are a powerful group... Without us you'd be digging through piles of books trying to find your Harry Potter, staring at Google's billion useless hits, and taking care of your own children after school... Yeah! I'm talking to you! Watch it!

Yeah, I'm cool...

I was going to wear my "aren't I cool" trench coat this morning but the lining was torn and had to be repaired. My "thank god I tricked her into marrying me" wife thankfully has repaired it while I'm at work and so Firday morning better watch out... I'll be cool again. I just wore my sport jacket so I just looked professional (business-like or hitman-like, whichever works).

Got some training in using our OVID databases a little while ago. Damn, there's just more and more for me to learn everyday! We learned about saved searches and how to use them to provide lists of results from several different databases in one, and to use the "remove duplicates" function. That's good to know. For our customers anyway... I know, most of you out there are yawning. Well, sucks to be you. Poor database deprived souls.... I pity you! *sigh* Anyway...

Congratulations...

Happy birthday "philosopher, psychologist and education reformer" John Dewey! You're 146 years old! You didn't like "epistemology" but I like you anyway! *laugh*

Poor child...

I mean, I like some of Google's stuff and all but...

Dr. Kai writes, "When we first knew that my wife Carol is pregnant, I said, 'we will name our child Google.' [Karen Wickre. "We get letters (3)." Google Blog, 17 Oct 2005]

Please... Could there be a geekier name?

That's a lot of books...

Congratulations... um... us!

According to Bowker, publishers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand released 375,000 new titles and editions in 2004. [Bowker, October 12, 2005]

You know... I would have thought it would have been more. There is bad news though. Although this is an increase overall, there has been a decline in science and technology titles. It's only the "soft" topics like fiction, religion and children's books that are actually increasing. I was going to say something snarky about the U.S. being the biggest part of the overall growth as usual, but, given that last point, I'll let them take all the credit.

C'mon people! Write and sell and buy more smarty-pants books! C'mon!

Morning, furniture, and stories...

Back to the grind this morning. It's good working here. I'm actually forced to learn more things every day. I always want to learn and learn and learn but sometimes I'm a little sleepy or stressed or distracted or lazy or something so sometimes I don't but working in a academic library (and better yet, a health sciences library) really makes me pay attention and grab all the information I can - I don't want to look stupid in front of all the cute college girls... or anyone for that matter - I'm very shallow, you know.

We spent the weekend arranging our fake and temporary furniture in our living room trying to figure out the best layout, and then going out to stores (here, here, and here) and looking at (not buying) things that we want to fill those spaces. I want one of those reclining wing back chairs. Those are cool. We saw some couches and chairs and things that we liked, but it was all expensive. We'll have to fill up the room a piece at a time or something.

I attended a presentation about Canada's health policy and plans in the future by the Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada's federal Minister of Health. Basically the focus is on wait times, which, living in the U.S. for a while, seems to be the outside world's only (or most frequently mentioned) criticism for our health care system. I don't know. I've not been in Canada for long enough to really see it (and before I was too young and too child-less to give it much thought). My daughter had to go to the hospital last weekend (running a fever and she's ok now) and the wait time in the emergency room was long but no longer than in the U.S. (around Newark, NJ). But I have heard the stories. Some of them anyway. Anybody out there have any they'd like to share?

Special days...

I've said it before and I'll say it again... God it's good to be in my own house! Woohoo!!! We're sleeping on an air mattress, we've got no living room furniture save a camp chair or two, and I can't find a thing... but I feel like a king in a castle! It's great. We've got so much more to do: finish painting my son's room (that Star Command Blue or whatever it's called is a little brighter than we thought), start on our room, buy things as fast as our budget will allow, etc. but it's all great.

Celebrated a colleagues wedding shower at work yesterday. We got talking about other showers and weddings and stuff and it reminded me of when I got married. I loved it. Not all of it (that stupid DJ didn't play anything I wanted) but pretty close. I guess it could have been better, by some standards, but I was happy and I had a good time. My wife wants to do it again and that sounds cool, but just because it would be nice to do... not because we "failed" the last time. You got that! *laugh*

My daughter is starting school today. My wife walked her to her new school when I went to wait for the bus to go to work. Since I work at Queen's University and my daughter's got to do "work" at school, we're both going to school and both going to work! No, she didn't find that joke all that funny either. Anyway.

Difficult decisions...

Read an article from "The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy" entitled "Rejecting the Baby Doe Rules and Defending a 'Negative' Analysis of the Best Interests Standard" by Kopelman. There are basically two standards for determining when it is best to end life support for infants with serious medical problems and the argument is that the "new" one is much less forgiving when it comes to situations concerning quality of life and that the old one give a little more freedom to the parents as well as the doctors when it comes to considering the suffering and difficulty an infant may go through. It's obviously a complicated and emotional issue and not one that has an easy answer. On the one hand life is precious and you don't what to leave the door open for abuse. But neither do you want to tie the hands of those faced with a decision no one wants to make but would probably make if they were in the situation themselves.

The only certain thing is that issues like this make it clear that the thing we all need to do, as individuals and as institutions, is to try to clarify our values. Clarification of all beliefs is important too, but when it comes to what we think is important, it is vital that we spend time thinking about them and how to deal with them in different situations. Our values really matter in life and too often we are faced with a problem for which we don't want the wrong solution. We have to be prepared. So go out there, sit down, and take some time to think about what you value and why and how and when and whatever.

Good luck!

My little princess and my royal chariot...

Stayed up late painting my daughters room. The colour we chose for her (with some suggestions from her) was a deep purple. (And no, we're not painting my son's room a lighter shade of pale.) It's called "Robes of the Queen" or something like that, from the (gag) Disney collection of paint colours. We're going to do her room up all princess-y and stuff... She's gonna plotz! It looks really good I think. I just realized I should have taken pictures. I'm gonna have to remember to do that before we put all her stuff in and she messes it all up!

I think I might regularly take the bus to and from work. We've got a car but parking is either (possibly) convenient and expensive or free and time-consuming. Then there's the price of gas. Wee. But the monthly bus pass is about the same price as a parking pass, I don't have to wait 6 months to get one, and riding the bus ain't so bad. It doesn't take too long and I can take one bus, practically door to door. And I can read!!! Woo hoo!!!

House...

We're finally in our new house! Well, sorta. We've got a bunch of our stuff in there and we've spent a couple of nights there but we've still got a lot more to move and my daughter's still going to school near my parent's house for this week... And the painting. Painting the three bedrooms like we planned has turned out to be more work than we thought. Very expensive and very time-consuming. But it's kinda fun too. I like painting... especially with the long-handled roller. Painting the little corners in the closets, on the ceiling, on a step-stool... that's not really great, but everything else is pretty neat.

It's great to have our own house. I've been walking around looking at all the neat (and not so neat) things that the older lady previously living there left around. There's paint and wood and windows and a box full of golf balls and brushes and curtains and wine bottles (empty) and all sorts of little odds and ends. I'll have to go through it and sort it and categorize it (being an eternal librarian) before I eventually (being a reforming pack rat) throw it all away (being an occasional clean-freak) without doing anything with it (being an ambitious procrastinator).

Oh, and I like that show "House" starring that guy who played Stuart Little's father. Damn. What a range.