How You Know You're Loved...
...if you come back from a weekend at home to find your mom packed a a yummy warm dish like baked macaroni and cheese for you.
...and if your kitten decides she may leave some for you after she's done!
...if you come back from a weekend at home to find your mom packed a a yummy warm dish like baked macaroni and cheese for you.
...and if your kitten decides she may leave some for you after she's done!
Happy Birthday Love!
I hope you enjoy your present and I hope you didn't get too full from our mini cake last night!
Weakerthans Concert at World Cafe Live
Andrew and I went to a concert at World Cafe Live on Sunday night. It was a mutual anniversary present to each other because we both love the Weakerthans (even though Andrew will tell you when he first sent me their music I said, "The Wintertons? Winkletoes? They're alright").
It was the best concert I've ever been to - no joke! This even beats when I met the Cold War Kids on my 21st birthday.
When we got to World Cafe Live, we saw the band's tour bus and there were a few guys coming out of it as we passed. We didn't know it was the band and we pushed past them to get into the empty venue only to be told we were too early. Once inside, we saw the lead singer John Samson walking around aimlessly with a grey hoody on. He seemed to have all the time in the world and I went "BABE THAT'S REALLY HIM" and pointed. This made Andrew turn red and I think I saw John smirk. That's gotta stroke the ego, right?
The venue was great, we had Mezzanine seats on a nice comfy couch. We started in the dining room and split a delicious arugula salad that had apples and candied walnuts with a balsamic vinaigrette. Then came the burgers and fries - YUM. They were great thick char broiled burgers with nice crispy fries. Even the pickles were good! They were very filling though and I didn't get to try any of the desserts, but that's probably for the best.
Rock Plaza Central opened, they were cool for about two songs. The music was good but their lyrics were pretty religious and most of the choruses were just repeating a single sentence over and over. I began to really appreciate how well-written theWeakerthans' lyrics were and couldn't wait to hear from Virtute!
The Weakerthans sounded just like their recordings and played a great mix from all their albums. They interacted with the crowd nicely, despite the hagglers (who just happened to be sitting behind us, how does that always happen?). The best part of the show was when John played solo, even though it was just him and a guitar he filled the entire concert hall. It was really impressive.
They played four songs for their encore which was nice. We pictured an old manager backstage listening to our cheers and saying "The kids want rock and roll!" But more likely, they walked off stage, refreshed their drinks and came back. It was still a great encore, especially since they played Civil Twilight, my favorite song.
I would really recommend checking out their albums and trying to see them in concert. They are some cool Canadians!
What's In My Bag?
The other night, I sat relaxing in my big comfy chair, chatting with Andrew online. Eleanor was asleep on my lap; I had the blinds pulled up and let the soft city lights warm my apartment. It was blissful. Of course, it was all interrupted when the fire alarm went off in my apartment building. I jumped up and began trying to get Eleanor into a copy paper box (she did not cooperate and I have a nice gash on my pinky to show for it), thinking "Oh my god, Gina! The building is going to implode and you don't have a plan." It was quite dramatic. I ended up leaving my apartment with just my keys and my iPhone. I had to leave Eleanor behind, which is another blog post of failed-mothering in itself. I sat on the corner of my block, wearing flip flops and crying on the phone to Andrew and my Mom that I was worried about Eleanor. It was not blissful.
Once I got back into the apartment (after about 20 mins, it was a system malfunction* - thank goodness), Eleanor and I cuddled and reconciled (GC: You must get in the box!!! ER:*licks Gina's chin* meow.) and I started to plan for my "go bag." I would not be caught off guard again.
While gathering supplies and ideas for how to prepare for an emergency, I came across this awesome collection of photographs at Lifehacker that show the contents of people's go bags. They seem to use "go bag" to refer to what I'd call a regular "bag bag." Sigh, my bag bag. My bag bag is like a security blanket to me. It's also an over-sized, overstuffed, unorganized mess that I throw over my shoulder and walk like one leg is shorter than the other because of. Here's what's in my bag bag (which is a great canvas bag I got on sale from J.Crew):
1. iPhone - holds everything, my music, my notes, shopping lists, calendars, books (kindle and audible audiobooks), let's me access my email, surf the web, and yeah, it does everything.
2. headphones
3. wallet - seriously weeded through recently to remove everything but essential plastic and (occasionally) cash
4. ibuprofen - sometimes I get headaches =(
5. hand sanitizer - sometimes I get germaphobic =)
6. random receipts
7. extra iphone charger - this is a recent addition, I only bought the second charger because I left mine in NJ.
8. hand lotion - this used to come in handy a lot more when I drove, I hated to see dry skin on my hands and I found myself looking at my hands at red lights.
9. a packet of Starbucks VIA, held in my VIA wallet - Yeah, I'm not kidding when I say I love this stuff.
10. bobby pins - left from when I had curly hair and would need to tame it every day.
11. sunglasses - I wear them at night.
12. gum - I like spearmint
13. coupons for Starbucks ice cream - been meaning to pick this up! $1.00 off!
14. lanyard with keys and school ID - I've been meaning to sew my own snazzy lanyard but for now I'm using one from the iSchool, school spirit!
15. water bottle - I got this one for $9.99 at Kitchen Kapers, it comes with a carabiner that I use to latch it onto my bag.
16. a spork - can't tell you how handy this is
17. an umbrella my dad got for me from Japan (or China, I can't remember)
18. a mirror, because I'm obsessed with myself
19. a coupon for 10% off at a local psychic named Gina, I found this in the stacks when I was cleaning. Bizarre.
20. Burt's Bees chapstick
Yeah, my bag bag holds all that important stuff that I just casually left in the apartment during the evacuation. But to be fair, I was too upset about leaving Eleanor to think about bringing anything else. Next time, I will bring Eleanor's new crate, her pet emergency bag, my bag bag and my go bag. Yes, I will be a bag lady during a fire drill. But I won't leave that kitty again!
Get in the bag El!
*They posted a sign the next day that said the alarm went off because the battery was low in one of the smoke detectors. Seriously?!
Back To School Without Paper or Pens?
I start my first semester in the Library and Information Science graduate program at Drexel this week and of course I'm overly excited. But for once, I'm not overly prepared. My back to school shopping used to consist of a pack of moleskine cahiers, a moleskine planner and my favorite pens, the Pilot G2. I would print out my readings (or buy the books) and take notes in my moleskines, obsessively.
But, as an online student studying technology, I find my former system embarrassingly low-tech. Most of my coursework for this semester is in electronic format: .pdfs and .html files all stored online at our library's electronic reserve site. I like that I can access my readings anywhere (with an iPhone I can do my reading pretty much anytime) but the problem is this: I can't take notes easily. I can't write notes or questions on my pdfs, I can't highlight, or circle or do anything like that. Yes, there is software out there that exists to solve these problems but it isn't free, or web-based. That means I'll either have to tie it down to a computer (and I use 3 different machines every day - Dell desktop at work, MSI Wind netbook and iMac - so that's not convenient) or pay for a service. Maybe I'm an old-school student (haha) but I'm used to completely digesting (destroying) what I read. I write all over articles, highlighting important passages and underlining phrases I'd want to quote in the future. I haven't yet found a program that mimics that frantic inhalation of a text.
So my solution (for now) is this: I've uploaded all the .pdfs and .html files to Google Docs and set up my Google Calendar to correspond with the syllabus. Now that you can attach Google Documents to an event in your Calendar, I have all the readings for each week grouped under the due date in my calendar. I can click on the attachments and complete my reading for the week. Google's pdf reader doesn't allow for notes or highlighting so I'll have to come up with a way to keep track of the main ideas from the articles. I can open word documents on my iPhone but I can't edit them (yet, please say this is a feature coming soon!) so that means some studying/reviewing can be done on the go.
Sigh, it doesn't quite feel like back to school without a neat stack of moleskines and pens. Just like my post about ebooks, I think the technology isn't ready for me to go paper and penless, but the urge is definitely there. The nerd in me is panicking about starting a program without a trusted notetaking regimen in place. I wonder if I can have moleskines shipped overnight...
Books Aren't Dead and They're Not Going Digital (Yet)
Books are old, books are dusty, books smell...books are dead! How many articles are we going to see about this topic? (Well, one more, at least!) I thought my input may be relevant seeing as I'm the target audience for ebooks: I'm a young student, a dedicated reader and a tech savvy gadget loving nerd. But I work with books all day long. At my library, I don't think there is anyone who has more "book-time" than I do. I am in charge of the shelves, I check in and out books and I lovingly clean and organize the shelves daily. I touch books constantly, I carry them, push them around on a cart, and pile and unpile them. When I interviewed for my position I kept asking, "are you planning to digitize these things?" The book collection seemed to take up space that could be better used for couches or computers. I thought students would be clamoring for electronic resources but I see now that we are no where near ready for that.
It comes down to this: until the technology that can replace books is free and ubiquitous, books cannot be thrown out. You will not see libraries without books until e-readers are given away in cereal boxes (or until we decide on a standard format that can be read in a web-based application that also has offline capabilities...now that's a crazy idea!). It just won't happen.
I want to be digital. I want to be paper-free. But it just isn't happening, yet. I read a lot. I read multiple books at a time (some for while I'm eating, some are better paired with a cup of tea and a sleeping kitten in my lap, others for the train, I listen to audiobooks while cleaning the apartment and have books on my iPhone's Kindle app that I read in bed). I'm definitely not married to the book as a physical entity, but I haven't been wooed by any of the e-reader apps or ebook stores. I've tried the Barnes and Noble ebook reader, and I've used the Kindle app for the iPhone. Both are acceptable; I can sit through a book without much discomfort. I don't miss books when using an e-reader but I do miss the money I spend on ebooks. I really can't see spending $9.99 on something that is digital. You may think my opinion is skewed because of my profession, but I'd gladly be book free, if it meant I wouldn't be without anything to read. I rely on libraries and loans from friends to fuel my appetite, and ebooks can't help me there. Let's all just calm down about ebooks. The future is not here.
For further reading:
Librarian in Black
Library Juice
I highly recommend you watch The Book vs. The Kindle from Green Apple Core. I link to part 1, but the whole series is really well thought out.
Librarian in Black
Library Juice
I highly recommend you watch The Book vs. The Kindle from Green Apple Core. I link to part 1, but the whole series is really well thought out.
In the Kitchenette: Famous Gina's BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
One of the biggest things I've missed since I moved into my apartment is barbecued dinners. Everything tastes better coming off of a grill. My favorite BBQ restaurant is Famous Dave's, where the waiters and waitresses reluctantly introduce themselves as "Famous Jeff" or "Famous Susy."
So I decided to make some BBQ chicken sandwiches for Andrew and I to celebrate our 21st month anniversary. I made the chicken the night before and toasted the buns after work. Afterward we walked to Five Guys and got some Cajun fries. It was divine!
Famous Gina's BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
adapted from this recipe
serves 2, for a very special anniversary dinner
adapted from this recipe
serves 2, for a very special anniversary dinner
2 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 long rolls from bakery
1 serving of Five Guys Cajun Fries
32 ounces of chicken broth
1 tablespoon garlic
9 ounces of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1/8 brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
1. Season frozen chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker and cover with chicken broth (you may not need entire amount listed above, just whatever covers both breasts is enough). Add 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours. Be sure that you don't "peek" into your slow cooker by lifting the lid. This interrupts the cooking process and is just naughty!
3. After 4 hours, drain broth from chicken and shred breasts with a fork. They should shred very easily, like butta!
4. Combine BBQ sauce, salad dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Pour over the shredded chicken, mixing well together.
5. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Cut rolls lengthwise and brush with olive oil.
8. Place oiled side down on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned.
9. When chicken is ready, scoop into rolls and serve with a side of Five Guys Cajun fries. YUM!!!
2 long rolls from bakery
1 serving of Five Guys Cajun Fries
32 ounces of chicken broth
1 tablespoon garlic
9 ounces of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1/8 brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
1. Season frozen chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker and cover with chicken broth (you may not need entire amount listed above, just whatever covers both breasts is enough). Add 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours. Be sure that you don't "peek" into your slow cooker by lifting the lid. This interrupts the cooking process and is just naughty!
3. After 4 hours, drain broth from chicken and shred breasts with a fork. They should shred very easily, like butta!
4. Combine BBQ sauce, salad dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Pour over the shredded chicken, mixing well together.
5. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Cut rolls lengthwise and brush with olive oil.
8. Place oiled side down on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned.
9. When chicken is ready, scoop into rolls and serve with a side of Five Guys Cajun fries. YUM!!!
Library Links Ahoy!
Eleanor likes to watch TV, but I've spent my time this week reading some good blogs. I thought I'd share a couple cool things I've read this week:
DUDES! Did You See the Library They've Got Here? by J. Byard Yoder on McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Dude, they've got the latest computerized catalog system—just roll right up to a terminal, type in your search terms, and it gives you a list of titles and call numbers, plus a little map to show you where they all are. Fucking Dewey decimal, man. It's tight.
I am the kind of person who really acts this way when they see a cool library (well besides the plans to wear basketball shorts and show off my tattoos while studying) but the satire is not entirely lost on me.
Yes I am a Digital Branch Manager, No I Do Not Regularly Build A Bonfires of Print Books in My Backyard & Dance Around it Wearing Warpaint by Bobbi L. Newman on Librarian by Day
I keep seeing the perception that by going digital, being aware of and, gasp! even using technology means that librarians and libraries are throwing aside traditionally services in favor of sexy new toys like Twitter. That in order for a library to have a Facebook profile first we have sacrifice 100 books to the Social Media gods.Bobbi is always on the cutting edge and this post is no different. She declares that to embrace technology is not to hate books.
Just thought I'd share! Read anything interesting this week?
