So...you're not a Tampa Bay fan, then?

Working in a public library, I regularly experience irregular things. It's part of why I like my line of work so much. These Random Public Library Moments (RPLM's) could come from any source, for any reason, at any time. After all, it's not only a public building, but the kind of public building that draws a wide variety of people for an even wider variety of reasons, and sometimes for no discernible reason at all. My favorite RPLM's to date were my interactions with a lady at the Centralia Timberland Library who thought she was Mrs. Hugh Hefner. Did you know that he's the real Elephant Man? It's true. Did you see Mask? That was him. Ask Cher, she'll tell you. And it only got better from there.

My favorite RPLM last week was much less elaborate, but still entertaining. We have a little survey question posted at the Children's Info Desk that changes every so often. Kids can take a little piece of paper and write down their answer, and we tack them up on the bulletin board. Currently, the question is: If you were a pro baseball player, what position would you play? Any guesses on the most popular answer so far? (See below) In the "less common response" category falls this one:



Excellent sentiment? Yes. Odd placement? Um, yeah. Unless it's a deeply masked jab at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but I'm really stretching here.

The most common answer is pitcher.

The phone books are here! The phone books are here!

Like Steve Martin in The Jerk, I am giddy with excitement over the arrival on my doorstep of three brand-new phone books! Yellow *and* white, just for me? Plus the little mini-sized regional one? Oh heavenly day!!

Oh yeah, and some other book came as well, Henry somebody-or-other...

What I did on my summer vacation, pt. 1

Just in case I don't get around to part 2, I'm going to start with the highlight of my trip to Colorado, which was hiking to the top of Eagle Peak. There were other great things, but at approx. 12,200 ft., Eagle Peak was the literal high point, so I'll go with that first.

No wait, first I'll give a nod and long distance hug to my college roommate and all-around great gal Leigh, along w/ hubby Zach and little pre-born Colin. The whole vanload of us stopped at their house for lunch in Littleton, and she had an awesome spread ready for us. This despite the fact that she'd had a very rough morning, one that culminated in her mother reviving her with a garden hose. But it was great to see her, even though I wish we had longer. Thanks again, Leigh, O Hostess with the Mostest!


Now for the climbing. Rainbow Trail is in the Sangre de Christo mountain range in the southern Rockies, west of Pueblo. Eagle Peak is the nearest peak to the camp. Here it is as seen from the porch of the main building:


See the pointier-looking part on the right? That's the false peak. Liar! Liaaar! That's the side we ascended, so the closer false peak was as far as we could see for most of the hike. Were we motivated by a lie, or only given as much as we could handle? There's a good metaphor in there somewhere.

The hike was certainly uphill, but not bad up until Rainbow Lake, which had a very high water level thanks to all the melted snow from Colorado's ridiculous number of huge snowstorms last winter.


By the way, my brother-in-law proposed to my sister (the first time) in this lake; not at, in.

After heading on up from the lake, things got hairier. First there was the section known among the staff as the Trail of Tears. Then came the really tough part.

That toughest part is The Meadow (not to be mistaken for The Meadows, also in Colorado, the well-known secret meeting place of The Pentaverate). Doesn't a meadow sound lovely, like you should sit down and have a picnic, or maybe frolic? Well, it's not that kind of meadow. I did wish I could sit down, but not much frolicking happened on my part.

(we're actually heading down in this picture, but you get the idea.)

It's steep, stingy on the oxygen, and seemingly interminable. One of those stretches of hike where the end never seems to get any closer, until eventually, somehow, miraculously, you've arrived. In this case we had arrived at the base of basically a pile of large rocks we had to scramble up. Scrambling was okay with me, because my legs had had enough, and now my arms could help out.


In the "glass is half-full" category, there was some lovely, hearty flora on the meadow:


We got to the top of the pile only to discover it wasn't quite the top of the pile (liaaar!), but after a not-too-uphill jaunt across a ridge in the pile, then we had summited. Yay!


Yes, that is a golden retriever behind me. She's a camp dog who invited herself along, and I was especially impressed with her rock-climbing abilities. Altogether, there were 19 people and one dog, 14 miles round trip, about a mile of elevation gain, and we all made it, the first group of the summer to have the conditions and guts to summit. The weather was clear and beautiful (at that point), and the view unbeatable.



On the way back down, we spent the last hour or two hiking through the only rainstorm we got all week, but what a payoff when we finally got back:


Rainbow Trail, indeed. That's even the building we were heading for, the dining hall. Since we returned at the tail end of dinner time, the whole camp waited for us and gave us a big hero's welcome as we hauled our soggy selves in. It was really a great moment, very warm and fuzzy despite being personally wet and stinky.

I took it easy by comparison for the rest of the week. That was a good hike.

I can quit whenever I want

Showed great restraint today. Did not find nearest HP dealer after work to get a fix. Went home and worked on my shameful backlog of unfinished reviews on Book Barker.

Honestly, seeing all those copies at work on hold for other people hasn't bothered me. Yet.

I read a Barnes & Noble copy for a few hours

No real spoilers below, unless you're an ultra-purist. But you've been warned.


Chapters Finished: 5
Death Count: 3

This is going to be a tough one. But we knew that.

Hopefully my Amazon.co.uk copy will come Friday. Godspeed, international mail!

keeping my head above water

I went to the Minnesota Zoo this month for the first time in many years. Maybe I shouldn't say "many"- after all, the zoo only opened in 1978, and old-school St. Paul natives like my mother still refer to it as the "New Zoo." It's bigger than it used to be, so lucky for me I had an expert guide (you know who you are). Having taken large groups of young children to the zoo several times, he was well-qualified to keep me from wandering into the wolf enclosure, running in the gift shop, etc. It was a warm Saturday afternoon, and when we got to the Bactrian Camels, I was more than a little surprised to see this:


Camels like to stand around in the middle of ponds? Who knew? Well, anybody who's been to the zoo more recently than I have, I suppose. According to the Zoo's website, Bactrian Camels are "reportedly" good swimmers. Does this mean that no officially licensed zoologists have ever seen one swim, and they are relying on the tales told by the Mongolian tribesman who have shared the Gobi desert with the camels? Ah, the beautiful moonlight camel swims; few who have been fortunate enough to witness them shall ever forget the beauty, the serenity, the buoyancy of these hearty beasts of burden. When you think about it, with those giant reserves of fatty tissue permanently attached to their backs like God-given water wings, I should hope they're good swimmers.

Seeing them standing there, only their necks and humps visible, I felt a certain kinship. Between settling into homeownership and the bills that go with it, and the many-faceted craziness of a summer at the public library, I feel like I've spent the last few months in a similar mostly-submerged position, much busier than is comfortable as a norm. It's not more than I can handle (God help me- and often, please), and like the camels I've waded here by choice and would do it again. Unlike the camels, I'm not up to my neck in nice, cool, relaxing water. I think I need to find some soon, preferably off in the North Woods somewhere.

When winter comes, I wonder if camels rise above it all and go skating?

Accio Deathly Hallows

Counting the hours until Harry Potter 7 is released? From Brotherhood 2.0's Hank Green comes just the song for you:

oh yeah? recognizeTHIS!

Hi everyone, who/where-ever you are.

I'm back. But my computer no longer recognizes my camera when I try to hook it up, so I can't yet share any fun photos of what the heck I've been up to in the last, oh, 3 weeks. The peaks I've climbed, the minivans I've sat in, the camels I've seen standing around, half-submerged. It's all trapped on my camera. Stories are coming, eventually, but I'm a child of the 21st century: I need visuals!

By the way, at first I typed "child of the 12th century." What would I need then? Dirt? A motte and bailey?