brrrRRR!

Here's a little tidbit of interest to you casual weather nerds like myself. The weather forecast for Minnesota predicts that this weekend, it will be colder here than in Siberia. When I was living in England, my fellow Hothorpe Hall team assistants who were from Europe asked how cold Minnesota got in the winter. It took me a minute to translate F into C, but when I did they were incredulous. "No! That is Siberia!" Oh, yes. And this weekend, it's extra true. Here's to wool and fleece!

paying for commercials

A few weeks ago now, I went to the British Television Advertising Awards screening at the Walker- a yearly favorite of mine. It's an hour of the best commercials Great Britain has to offer. Here's an example of one that caught my fancy- it's the mustaches, I think. That, and the creative use of sea life.

no blogging in a vacuum

As it turns out, my blogs do not just show up on the internet for my friends and family and other people I have direct connections to. For one thing, who is my mystery reader in Las Vegas? Hello to you, whoever you are, but I have no clue who in Vegas would be interested in what I have to say.

I am woefully backlogged over at Book Barker, with dozens and dozens of books I've read but haven't posted yet. So the last couple reviews I did were fast and dirty, in the hopes that a half-assed review is better than nothing at all. I may rethink that approach. I wrote a very quick blurb about a book I couldn't get into. It was probably one of the most ho-hum reviews in the history of Book Barker; very little useful review information, and mostly just a plot summary and my one-sentence personal reaction to what is really a guy book, and a boxing book- both not me. And tonight I noticed the post had gotten a comment. Hey, that's cool, I don't get a lot of comments. I wonder who left it? Oh look, it's FROM THE AUTHOR. *sigh* And of course, when faced with an actual person who I'm sure put months of his life into this very decent book, all the positive things I thought about his book but didn't write because I was in a hurry floated up to haunt me. So the backlog will have to languish a little longer, because my New Year's resolution for Book Barker is that all future reviews, when I manage to actually post them, will not be half-assed. They will be fully assed. Or is that no-assed? Is more or less better in this situation? Whatever it may be, I've learned my lesson about the false anonymity of the internet, and the pitfalls of a very informal medium, and all that. Thus concludes today's youseetimmy.

At last, I've found her!

Sorry I've been such a blogger-slacker. Call it my little holiday from, well, any extracurricular effort.

The closest town to my chiropractor's office is Navarre, halfway around Lake Minnetonka and so small that even most Twin Citians have never heard of it. They do have a Lund's grocery store, and on that Lund's there hangs a sign:


At last, my search for Minnesota's Best Bagger is at an end. I stopped in for some tea and to inquire after this legendary hero, the Mighty Bagger Brianne. Turns out this is quite the accomplishment. The finals happened at Mall of America, and now the winner goes on to the national competition in Vegas next month. It's tied in with the NGA Convention- you know, National Grocers Association? Bag well and do us proud, young Brianne.

Grr! Arg!

That's 'Merry Christmas' in crazy Christmas monster language.

The funniest thing is, she wasn't even going for monster. To get her to smile for pictures, we say "show us your teeth," which gets varied results.

When librarians sing carols...

...we sing 'em Old School. At Saturday's LNO Ho Ho Ho (Librarian's Night Out, a semi-regular social gathering of Twin Cities area librarians, this one a Christmas party), our awesome hostess not only had the good sense to own a baby grand piano, she had also checked out assorted Christmas music from the library's collection. One book included a variety of modern (read: '80's) Christmas favorites, including this one:


That's right, not only has George Lucas been unable to erase the Star Wars Christmas Special from our collective memory, there actually exists sheet music for "R2D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas," released two years after the infamous Special. Truly a Christmas miracle! I've included someone's YouTube puppet music video at the bottom here in case you need to hear this thing- which you do. I think my favorite lyrics are from the second verse: "And if the snow's too deep / Just give a little peep / We'll gather 'round the fire / And warm your little wires." Read the interesting trivia near the bottom of the Wikipedia article linked above to learn who made their recording debut on this song. Considering the source, I double-checked the facts like a good little librarian, and it's true. Just goes to show, everyone has to start somewhere.

It's an Olive!

We have baby!

Olive Allyne Fischer was born Saturday, December 15, at 11:10 a.m. She was born underwater- a little Fisch from the start. Being there for the home birth was truly an amazing and humbling experience.

In the movies when a woman goes into labor, the joke is always, "Somebody boil some water! Get warm towels!", even though none of the characters knows why. We had a birthing tub to keep warm, and some of the midwife's instruments needed to be sterilized, so I didn't blink an eye at all the water we were boiling. Then after Olive was born, they wanted to warm her up some more. Maureen, the midwife, asked me to put some clean towels in the dryer for a little while. I couldn't believe it- I was running for boiling water *and* warm towels! So now you know. It's not just a standing joke; it's home birth in action.

Mama, papa, baby, and big sister are all doing well. Various grandparents, aunts and uncles are happy and proud.