Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Prairie Dawn and I jokingly have a mantra here at the Library that goes, "Don't make me be a grownup." This line basically means I can be cool and we can have fun, but don't do or say anything that's going to make me have to put on my grownup pants and say or do something grownup-y. I had to put on my grownup pants today with my staff. Ugh. I happened to be at the desk doing something when a patron came up to check-in/check-out materials, so I gladly did it while my staff finished some conversation in the work room. Then the conversation turned to politics. Hey, I get that I live in the conservative part of Ohio, and I'm in the minority being a Democrat here, but no one knows that--you know why? I don't talk politics at work because A. you never know where others lie politically and B. it's not cool to talk politics at work. And they weren't shy about loud-enough-so-the-patron-and-I-could-hear-them-at-the-desk-discussing their dislike of Obama an...

"Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution.  We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.  What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time.  For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never...

Thursday morning could not get going fast enough for me. While I was enjoying being with TSO's super wonderful family I couldn't wait until our afternoon rendezvous with B1&B2. And finally the time came to regroup cluttered things, zip said items back into bags, stuff bags into my car and get underway again. We were temporarily delayed at the H-dale post office--TSO's present for B1&B2 was broken during it's shipping from WA to PA--while the Postmaster tried to figure out how to pay TSO for damaged goods. In a flash we were back on the road again, heading 2.5 hours East to the Hershey, PA area. OMG! The area of PA between H-dale (where TSO is from) and Hershey is an absolutely beautiful piece of world that God himself must have laid down. Living in MI for the past three years and missing the mountains of MA, I had forgotten the gloriousness that is fall in the mountains; a vista ablaze with colors. It sounds so cliche, but how else can you explain the feroci...