Because I'm a romantic fool

Yes, I'm a sucker for romance and no, even after all the poor choices I've made in the past, I haven't quite given up on the hope that there's a special someone out there for me.

Because of those very reasons, I couldn't help smiling from ear to ear reading, watching and listening to how Dave proposed to Elizabeth. It's all detailed, appropriately enough, on Dave's blog, titled DaveLovesElizabeth.com.

Just when I think romance is dead, a wonderful man like Dave shoots that theory down. Elizabeth is one lucky woman and Dave is one lucky guy.

Congratulations you two! I wish you many, many years of love and happiness together.

At the Library ... The Movie

Check out this movie about how much fun it is to visit the library. I guarantee you'll be humming and/or singing along to the film's accompanying ditty.

Thanks to j for pointing the way to the film, a production of vlogger Josh Leo.

Chances are

So what are the chances of Halloween mayhem in both my hometown and in the area I currently live in? Excellent and something that I'm certainly not proud of.

Another pin idea

I responded to a question posted to a listserv I'm on and the person thanked me by replying "You are faster than a speeeding bullet!" Maybe this slogan can be added to j's idea of an RSS pin and the two of us could develop a profitable side business. Hmmm ...

I'm going on a trip!!!

So what if it's a year from now?

Two great friends I made during my time in library school, Mimi and Em, have completely abandoned their senses and have agreed to take a trip out east with me next fall.

Our stops will include the Big Apple, Beantown and D.C. I'm looking forward to my first real vacation in two years and to hooking up with Amanda and j when I'm in their neck of the woods.

Got burgers?

There's a new search engine devoted to burger lovers called, what else, BurgerFinder. You can type in your zip code and select from a drop down list the number of miles you're willing to travel for your burger and voila, a list of results. You can also add a burger restaurant to the database and engage in discussions in the Burger News and Burger Talk forums.

According to ResearchBuzz, which recently profiled BurgerFinder, the site is very new and as a result, is mostly limited to chain restaurants in its results. However, it is expected that as the site grows, it will include menus, the specific types of burgers available and reviews of establishments.

Ode to librarians

From LISNews.com, an article from today's Des Moines Register, where librarians not only answer reference questions, but stop convicted sex offenders from hurting children. Well done!

More bad news from San Jose

The San Jose Mercury News announced yesterday that it plans to drop publication of both its Spanish and Vietnamese language papers effective November 11th. The Spanish paper, Nuevo Mundo, will cease publication entirely while its counterpart, Viet Mercury, is being sold to a group of businessmen.

The news comes on the heels of the paper's announcement that it will also discontinue publication of zoned editions of The Guide, weekly sections on five Silicon Valley communities and the announcement last month that the paper would be laying off 60 employees, the majority coming from the newsroom.

Deja vu

An article in the current issue of Library Journal tells a story I know all too well and relays perfectly the gamut of emotions I experienced during my nine months of job hunting. Evan Simpson and Adrienne L. Strock share their stories of resume crafting, interview preparation and perhaps the worst part of the search process, the waiting game.

Fortunately, both of their stories end happily. Evan is Manager of Access Services at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (he does say that the position doesn't require a library degree) and Adrienne is a Young Adult Librarian at the Marlborough Public Library in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

"In Cold Blood" anniversary

With the release of the film "Capote," there's also been a focus on the 40th anniversary of the publication of Truman Capote's only novel, "In Cold Blood." I re-read the book recently and became curious as to what had happened to the two surviving Clutter daughters, Eveanna and Beverly.

While searching, I stumbled across a site created after the publication of a series run by the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Kansas to commemorate the book's anniversary. The site was also mentioned in today's edition of the Scout Report.

Eveanna, who is now 68 and her sister, Beverly, 65, live near each other in Newton, Kansas and both say that "we want to remember our parents in a positive light, not the negative," which is why they rarely comment on the brutal murder that took their parents, sister and brother from them in November 1959. They have shunned frequent interview requests because they feel the Capote book was unfair and inaccurately depicted their family, although they did grant an interview for this series, which is included within the site.

Stop the insanity!

It's funny how I thought that when I finished library school, I would have oh so much free time on my hands, but that has definitely not proven to be the case. I'm busier than ever, what with my (after six weeks can I still call it new?) job, my appointment as co-chair of an SLA task force and my involvement in the association's, in my former boss' words, "best damn division." I also have a library profile to complete this weekend.

At least the weather will be good for staying in. Right now it's only 48 degrees and rainy. I guess I'd better start putting the sweaters on because my eyeballs nearly popped out of my head when I saw the cost of my gas bill this month. (And I haven't even turned on the heat yet.)