All posts by Jonathan

The Library of Congress

Looking back, the thing I enjoyed the most during my trip to Washington D.C. (other than hanging out with my father) was the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. And my being a librarian didn’t have anything to do with that. While we were waiting for the library to open, I was thinking we probably wouldn’t be there longer than an hour. We ended up staying for most of the morning and into the lunch hour!

Interior of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building

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And they say the government wastes money…

It’s election time here in the United States — time for the endless barrage of political commercials that saturate the television airwaves. Is this any way to inform the public on where our potential leaders stand on the issues? The election campaigns seem to depend more on marketing experts than policy experts. Instead of hearing about the real issues, we get mudslinging.

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Camping at Peninsula State Park

Yesterday I returned from a camping trip to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. One of the reasons I like to go there is the park has 20 miles of the best biking trails in Wisconsin. When you bike along the lakeshore and through the woods on those trails you can understand why Peninsula is one of the most popular parks in the midwest. I was fortunate to have excellent weather while I was there and was able to hit the bike trails every day.

View from Eagle Terrace at Peninsula State Park

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Wilderness

Forty years ago this past Friday, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act establishing the National Wilderness Preservation System to “…secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.”

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No, I do not clean the library bathrooms

While at work this afternoon, I walked into the bathroom to use the facilities. I was dressed for work as I usually am, in a shirt and tie, with my name tag that says “Librarian.”

There was a library patron in there washing his hands (one of our regular internet users). He notices me come in and asks “So, do you clean the bathrooms here too? It’s always so nice and clean.”

For a few seconds, sarcastic (and perhaps smart-ass) answers flooded into my brain. I am glad to report however, that I summoned a great deal of self-restraint and gave him a polite answer. Since the question deserves a proper response, I thought I would do so here.

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