All posts by Jonathan

Tidbits from a librarians conference

The following are a few things I learned today, while at the conference of the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians at the Monona Terrace convention center.

Current tuition for students of the University of Wisconsin School of Library and Information Studies is $14,688 for the academic year. Back when I was a graduate student in library school (1986-1988), I believe tuition for the year was about $2,400. And you thought gas prices have been increasing too fast.

Odd Wisconsin is one of the more popular sections on the Wisconsin Historical Society’s web site. Which by the way has some wonderful resources in addition to Odd Wisconsin.

On their migration north, common loons stop in Lake Monona. During a break at the conference, while looking out one of the windows facing the lake, I spotted a loon fishing for a meal.

When I’m watching a loon in the middle of April, I get eager for summer camping in northern Wisconsin.

Procrastination nation

In past years I couldn’t believe how many people waited until the last minute to do their taxes. Invariably, every year on the evening news of April 15th (tax deadline here in the U.S.), the big story would be the lines of people at the post office, mailing their tax returns at the last minute. When I worked at the public library I was amazed by the number of people we would get the last few days before tax day, frantically searching for the tax forms they needed.

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Steve Earle at the Barrymore

Last night I went to my first concert since I moved to Madison and caught Steve Earle‘s show at the Barrymore Theatre.

Musically, Steve and his backing band (the Dukes) rocked the house, concentrating on songs from his two most recent discs, “The Revolution Starts Now” and “Jerusalem.” He didn’t ignore his back catalog though, playing excellent versions of older tunes like “Guitar Town,” “Copperhead Road” and “Goodbye.”

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Winter beauty

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Even though Spring is just days away, we’re still getting snow in Wisconsin. I woke up this morning to see everything wearing a beautiful coat of snow. Here’s a picture I took at work today of the snow covered woods behind the library. As proof that beauty is fleeting, the trees were bare again in just a few hours.

Snow covered woods

Designing in my sleep

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I’ve been creating and working with websites for about the past 8 years or so. Most recently, I started the first stages of designing a site for the library where I work.

Last night, I had my first web design dream. In fact, I had a small web design revelation last night — while I was sleeping. In my dream, I was working on the library website and I came up with what I think is a pretty good design idea. It wasn’t a big idea, just one for a particular aspect of the design. Is it conceited to be impressed with an idea your subconscious came up with?

Dreaming is something that I very much enjoy doing. Quite often, I find the experience similar to watching a really good movie. Be it conceited or not, the idea I had last night was a good one and I got a kick out of dreaming it into existence.

Good day sunshine

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What a pleasure it was to see the sun shining in Madison after about a week or so of cloudy, overcast (and sometimes snowy) weather. It’s during this time of the year when I can understand how people can become depressed and suffer from things like seasonal affective disorder. During these months (late February, early March) I always feel like my batteries are in serious need of recharging. On days like today I genuinely get an emotional lift from the sun shine.

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Midwinter ponderings

There are a few things I’ve been pondering lately.

  • Why does a meager two-inch overnight snowfall cause massive traffic jams during the morning commute in Madison?
  • Bob Marley would have turned 60 years old a few days ago, were he still alive. Way back in the late 1970’s, his music served as my introduction to reggae music. I wonder how my music collection (and my fondness for reggae and other world music) would be different if Bob Marley hadn’t been around.
  • Is it feed a cold, or starve a cold? With all the liquids I’ve been drinking (and subsequent bathroom visits) I’ve decided it should be drown a cold.
  • Using Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft FrontPage at work only reinforces my dislike of Microsoft products. At least I’m able to use Firefox there.
  • What are Asian beetles doing in North America? More importantly, what are they doing in my attic? Hopefully they aren’t inviting the African, Australian and the South American beetles to come over too.

I’ll choose Frederick Bloy

As part of a newsletter article for the library where I work, I was asked the following question:

If you could have a conversation with anyone (living or dead), who would it be and why?

There are all sorts of interesting people (from history, pop culture, politics, etc.) that I would love to talk to. After thinking about it for a while, I decided I would choose my great grandfather, Frederick Bloy, who emigrated from Germany in 1874.

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Good day for a hike

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With a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and the sun shining, I thought it was a good day for a hike. So, I found the box my snowshoes were in (yes, I still have boxes to unpack) and headed over to Elver Park. The largest park in the city of Madison, Elver Park is only about two-thirds of a mile from my house and one of the reasons I chose to live where I do. While the wind was a little brisk today and the park full of sledders and cross country skiers, it was great being in the outdoors and hiking through nature again. Something I haven’t done for many months. There was even some solace to be found: watching the snow sparkle in the sun as the wind blew it off the pine tress I was hiking through.

When the wind on my face told me it was time to head home, I reluctantly did so, but not without feeling the charge of energy I get from being in the outdoors.