A Bloy and his Blog

Over the past several weeks, the weather here in Madison has been very spring like. High temperatures have been up to 20 degrees warmer than average. Snow fall has been virtually non-existent, and lakes in the area are not frozen — a very unusual situation for January. The other day I was outside retrieving the paper, and I happened to notice a whole collection of box elder bugs (who hibernate during the winter) sunning themselves on the side of my condo. With the higher than normal temperatures there are mold spores and other allergens in the air. For about the past couple of weeks it’s gotten bad enough for me to take my daily allergy medications — something I’ve never done in January before.

read the rest of: Waiting for winter

I was fortunate enough to be in the Kohl Center yesterday when the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 71-68. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… There is nothing like college basketball. The atmosphere, the excitement, the intensity of the players — it really can be an awesome experience.

It was a late start last night when the nationally ranked Badgers (3rd) met the nationally ranked Ohio State team (5th). A good ten or twelve minutes before the game was scheduled to begin, the Kohl Center looked to me to be full to capacity (usually all of the empty seats don’t fill in until after the game starts). Because of the strength of these two teams, this game had been highly anticipated (and overly hyped in the local media) from the beginning of the season. The atmosphere in the building was truly electric as the anxious crowd waited for the game to begin.

read the rest of: There is nothing like college basketball

After I was whining about a lack of winter weather earlier this month, it has been very wintry here over the past week or so. We’ve had a couple of snowstorms and typically cold temperatures.

This was the scene outside my door this morning.

read the rest of: Sunday snowstorm

So this morning my phone rings. I answer it and I hear that momentary, silent pause that tells you a telemarketer is on the line. First a little backstory. About a year ago I had an eye exam and bought new glasses at a certain national-chain eyeglasses store. I don’t want to disclose the name, but it rhymes with HensCrafters.

Telemarketer: “Hello I’m calling from HensCrafters to remind you of your eye exam appointment.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I do not believe I have an eye appointment scheduled at HensCrafters.”

read the rest of: Sleazy sales tactics

I had been anticipating this CD by The Shins ever since I first heard the marvelous, Chutes Too Narrow (their previous release) over two years ago. In fact, about a month ago, I reserved a copy at my local record store, just be be assured I could get it on the day it was released. I’m sure it’s difficult for a band to follow such a well received disc as Chutes, but after listening to Wincing The Night Away for over a week now, I think they have made a very worthy follow up.

The Shins have a talent for creating beautiful melodies with hooks that stick with you long after you’ve heard the song. While Chutes was a much brighter record emotionally, Wincing The Night Away has a bit of a darker edge to it. Indeed, the title alludes to a bout of insomnia the band’s frontman (James Mercer) had.

read the rest of: The Shins: Wincing the night away

I got the following in a email today (source unknown), and thought it was worthy of passing along here. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, “What does love mean?”

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
Rebecca - age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
Billy - age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
Karl - age 5

read the rest of: What does love mean?

This website has had basically the same design since I bought the domain name (way back in 2000). It is definitely time for a fresh look. I’ve named the new design “Color Bar” and I plan on changing the photograph in the heading occasionally (and perhaps some of the site colors too).

With the new design, the list of my current musical recommendations has been moved from its own page to the home page. Any web geeks out there may be interested to know that the entire site is now managed through WordPress (not just the blog entries). Those static html pages are so twentieth century…

So the previous design isn’t lost to the ages, I have archived a sample of it on a separate page. If you get nostalgic for the old Shield Swoop Design, feel free to go there and reminisce.

Update:
I discovered a few minor issues with how the Internet Explorer 6 was displaying the new design, which have been fixed. See any other problems? Just let me know.

A pretty big winter storm has been hitting the upper great lakes region this weekend.

As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The Great Snow! How cheerful it is to hear of!”
- from Walden, Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors.

Last Spring, my library signed on to AskAway, a virtual reference service. AskAway is the Wisconsin division of the QuestionPoint consortia, which provides virtual reference (via online chat) throughout the United States. That means our patrons can get reference help from a librarian, 24 hours a day, even on holidays. In turn, some of our librarians spend an hour or so per week answering virtual reference questions from patrons all over the country.

It’s been an interesting experience providing online reference help. When I first started, it was a little unnerving and overwhelming (much like the first few times I was working at the reference desk in the real world). But just like that other reference situation, those feelings fade with experience.

read the rest of: On being a virtual librarian

According to the CIA personality quiz, I am a Thoughtful Observer.

What kind of CIA employee would you make? Take the CIA personality quiz and find out. Just remember… the Central Intelligence Agency is watching your answers.

And yes, there IS a librarian position currently open at the CIA.

Found via the Annoyed Librarian.