MaxLibris

Well he actually comethed already.  I am happy to report that I am not stealing anyone else’s internet connection at the moment, and using my own.  I had a déja vu moment yesterday.  I was standing in my new apartment (I have to mostly stand or sit on the floor since my stuff hasn’t arrived yet) and I felt as if I was repeating something.  When I was in Seattle, I left my fab job and moved to Bezerkeley for another job.  Unfortunately, when I lived there, I was unhappy - hated my job, felt alone… the good thing is that I was able to snap myself out of that feeling.  I just said that this situation is completely different - which it is.

I had a lovely lunch with my new friend Peter in Boystown and then we took a leisurely stroll along the lake near the harbor.  I’m really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed very soon.

Yes it is that time of year again - though I don’t really celebrate Cinco.  I’m celebrating in a different way today, by moving to Chicago.  My bags are all packed, my belongings are already on their way up to Chicago and I’m at the airport (ATL) waiting for a flight to take me to Newark and then on to Chicago.  I have such absolutely amazing friends in Atlanta.  I can’t begin to tell you how much I will miss them.  I was able to spend a lot of time with them this weekend and we all shared some really great times.  I’m so grateful that I am able to re-establish a friendship which I wasn’t sure was salvagable, to make those who have made such an impact in my life know just how much their presence has changed my life forever, and letting me call at all hours and vent my frustrations, my hopes, my dreams, my loves and losses - wow.  Words cannot adequately express how much I will miss them.  Christi. Andrew. Steve. Mike. Peyton. Mike. Del. Gary. Danny. Rodney. Ivy. Bobby. Mark. Rob. All the others - you know who you are - you are in my heart forever.

I’m flying to Baton Rouge later today to teach my last “official” class for SOLINET.  Tomorrow is my last day and the end of almost 5 years at this job.  I’ll be teaching Web 2.0: Social Software Applications for Libraries at the Greenwell Springs Road Regional Branch Library (part of E. Baton Rouge Parish Library System).  I have taught there before but to be honest I can’t remember what class it was - I think it might have been a class that is part of the Rural Library Sustainability Program from WebJunction.  Still waiting to hear from the movers as to what day exactly they will be here to pack up my life - but my plan is to fly up to Chicago on Monday.  I sold my car last week - and honestly part of me is a little panic-stricken! I thought I would be so relieved but I’m really not.  I am hoping that I’ll get used to it.

I’m still a little bit loopy from having my bathtub reglazed for the tenant who will be living in my condo in Atlanta (hi Melissa!) - it looks awesome! The fumes however have given me a major headache and I did not sleep well last night.  If it wasn’t so cold here at the moment (50’s - I know, Chicago is colder) I would have left ALL the windows open.

Oh - the presentations from FLA 2008 are all posted on the Presentations page.  Check ‘em out!

I am in Florida at the moment.  I am speaking at the Florida Library Association Annual Meeting…this morning spoke on technological change and trying to get buy-in.  I was pleasantly surprised by the reception and my performance.  It was great to see some familiar faces in the crowd like Cheryl Wolfe, Stephanie Race and Karen Schneider.  I have been so full of anxiety lately because of my impending move to Chicago and trying to tie up loose ends at MPOW.   I drove up the coast to where I grew up - and a lot of memories have been flooding my head.  I stopped by ole Countryside Mall where I used to work back in 1985 (or was it 1986?), drove by the ole Bookstop (which is no longer there), Phillippe Park, my old house - posted some photos of them on Flickr.  (Search for tag: pinellas).  Back to Plant City for now and then back to St. Pete tomorrow for one last session.

I’m not even gone yet but my good friend Rusty already put dibs on my office.

I don’t really care - it’s a nice one for the most part, though a little too close to the Ladies Loo. I am moving to the Windy City, the City of Booze and Jazz, the third largest city in the US, the city known originally by the Miami-Illinois Native American name of shikaakwa, the city that burned and came back like the Phoenix - Chicago.

I recently accepted a position with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine - Greater Midwest Region. It is located in the Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Illinois - Chicago. I will be the Technology Coordinator and will be working with some fantastic people. My last day at SOLINET is 28 April (though I have a class or two that might make the last day pushed back) and my first day is 12 May - right in time for MLA.

I had a problem with me ole blog - and after careful (I thought) reinstallation and backing up, I lost all posts from October 2007 to now.  Sux.  I had to recreate the MySQL database so they are not to be found, sadly.

Today is the day many cities on the Earth will willingly plunge into darkness. For an hour maybe.Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. Your city may be on the list of those that will hold events to acknowledge a needed commitment to energy conservation. Sydney was among the first cities to do this, followed by Christchurch and Auckland.

Other cities include:
Brisbane, CA
La Plata, CO
Asbury Park, NJ
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
…and hundreds of other cities.

What are YOU going to do during Earth Hour?

Roland Piquepaille writes about the virtual telemicroscope - that is capable of emailing electronic slides of medical images.

It has been specifically designed to allow ‘off-site pathologists to diagnose cancer or other diseases in patients living in remote locations around the world,’ like China, where many hospitals don’t have on-site pathologists. 

You can try the virtual telemicroscope for free - only for PC users however - and not for Vista currently.

I am a member of ALA and I receive their weekly email “American Libraries Direct.” I usually actually read it too - I end up skimming the first part and heading straight down to the Tech Talk area. I have to say there are usually a lot of good nuggets of information in that section - at least for me and what I do at MPOW. The email can be quite long so occasionally a few sit in my email inbox for a while until I have a breather to check them out - and I hadn’t looked at the one from 3/19/2008. So I was quite surprised to find out that there was a mention of a blog post I wrote forCEBuzz this week about using trading cards as a promotional tool!

I certainly wasn’t expecting that - but it’s nice to be able to promote two things I am proud of -SOLINET and CEBuzz.  I do have to give a shout out to Sam Mitchell at SOLINET for creating the cards.  Thanks Sam! He did an amazing job.

The ALA Public Programs Office is pleased to invite public library applications for Let’s Talk About It: Love and Forgiveness programming grants.

Participating Libraries will promote and present a five-part literary discussion series led by a local scholar and based on one of three themes.  Successful applicants will receive training for the library project director at a national workshop, program and promotional materials, and a $2,500 grant to support program costs, scholar honoraria and travel to the workshop.

The themes include:

• Love and Forgiveness in the Presence of the Enemy
• Love, Forgiveness, and Wisdom
• Love and Forgiveness in the Light of Death

Applications are due 15 July 2008.  To download an application and complete guidelines, visitwww.ala.org/publicprograms.

To request an application by mail, or with questions about applying, email publicprograms@ala.org.