Sunday, November 27, 2005

"Bad news for news"

That's how host Scott Simon introduced this piece on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday about the troubling issues facing newspapers. Among them, the sale of Knight-Ridder, continuing declines in circulation, significant cuts in the number of newsrooom staff at, to name a view, the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News and Chicago Tribune and the rise in the number of readers who prefer to have their news delivered online.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Turkey Day gone awry

This was the first Thanksgiving in my life where I wasn't able to spend the day with my family. As my few loyal readers know, my family is in Wisconsin and I've been living in central Ohio since September, having relocated for a new job.

When your family lives out of state, you have to pick and choose the holidays you'll be able to spend with them. I felt that it was more important for me to be with them at Christmas, which I'm happy to say I will be in just under a month. I can't wait to see Madison again. You never realize how much you miss your hometown until you have to leave it.

One of my co-workers knew I was going to be alone today and asked if I'd like to join her for dinner at a local restaurant. I thought that was so sweet of her and was really thrilled that I'd be eating somewhere besides Bob Evans for a change. For those of you unfamiliar with the state of Ohio, Bob Evans' restaurants are located at what seems like every half mile point.

Yesterday, it snowed heavily and my co-worker e-mailed last night to say that we'd need to decide in the morning if the weather would cooperate with our outing. Well, I was woken up this morning by the sound of rain pounding against my bedroom window, but given that it was below 32 degrees, what actually was coming down was sleet. I thought it might alleviate before I needed to leave, but it continued and my co-worker and I talked and decided it was better to cancel our plans.

I was definitely disappointed, but I've come to realize something as I've gotten older. I'm a hearty Wisconsinite and have driven many a time on snowy and icy roads. When I have to go to work or the like and have to drive in such conditions, I deal with it and can do it. (What I actually worry about most are the other drivers who drive like idiots and could potentially slide into me.) But when I absolutely don't have to go out when the weather is miserable, I won't. It's not worth it.

So I spent the day in, reclining in my easy chair watching some of my favorite movies. I also made dinner, not on the scale of what Amanda made (which by the way, sounded delicious), but dinner nonetheless.

Unlike most people, I don't have a long weekend. It's back to work for me tomorrow and on Saturday as well. The latter should be interesting since I haven't worked a weekend for nearly three months.

In any case, I hope everyone, no matter how you spent the day, had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

I want one of my very own

It's probably vain to say this, but I want my own trading card!

Check out the Librarian Trading Cards blog. As we speak, there are three cards displayed featuring Amy Pelman, a student in UCLA's Department of Information Studies, Jessy Griffith, a librarian at the Alexandrian Public Library in Mt Vernon, Indiana and Ken Petrilli, a Young Adult Librarian at the New Rochelle Public Library in New Rochelle, New York.

Thanks to Library Stuff for the heads up.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

'Tis the season ...

I'm speaking of "Oscar season," the time of year when the studios typically release the films they feel have the best chance of receiving Academy Award nominations.

Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger gives us an early look at the films he feels will "be fighting for a slot on 2006's Academy Awards ballot."

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

NPR talks Wikipedia

Today's "Talk of the Nation" program on NPR offered a very interesting program on Wikipedia and other means of user-created content and what they mean for the future of the Internet.

Featured are Chris Anderson, Wired magazine's editor-in-chief; Nicholas Carr, a freelance business and technology writer; and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.