First Nerd Problems

Yesterday was one of those days where Murphy seemed to be above me making sure that little rain-cloud never strayed too far. Ah, a mixed metaphor is always fun on a Saturday morning.

Anyway, to get to school I take two buses and a train. It takes about 90 minutes which is not ideal but for a reader like myself, it's really not too bad. I've been spending three mornings a week deeply enthralled with my new best bud, George R.R. Martin (or GRRM if you're super cool and constantly tweet about #ASoIAF). But, more about that later.

My first bus was 20+ minutes late, and that borders on the line of being late for class (as in missing half of it because of missed connections). So I rushed over to catch a different bus that required a two block run to catch the train — which was also late. I was so stressed I couldn't read (which is the most frustrating feeling in the world). I finally got onto the third bus of my journey and pulled out my eReader to delve into A Feast of Crows. I have a Nook Color, one I received for my birthday the year before last and up until the last few days I have loved it. I read The New York Times on it, I've read all the GRRM books that I have on it, so on and so forth. But out of nowhere it's started turning itself off randomly and once awakened it's lost my page. Ack! GRRM tends to write pretty exciting things at the end of chapters and it's a huge pain in the butt to have search around and not have the event spoiled (I hate spoilers like River Song).

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By the time I was on my return trip it stopped doing the irritating thing so I was happily re-immersed into A Feast for Crows. And that's where I went wrong — I'm the kind of person who walks down the street reading, I sometimes read in the shower, even. When the bus hit the end of the line/my stop I got up, reading, and got off the bus. As the bus pulled away I realized that my iPhone was no longer in my pocket.

...

I asked a fellow at the stop if I could use his phone to call mine, maybe if the bus driver saw it light up or heard it buzz he could hold it for me? I'm such an optimist. Anyway, lawyer dude looked at me like I'd asked for a firstborn to nom on. I guess my demeanor reads "I'm going to steal your phone by lying and sell it for drugs", maybe I wasn't meant to teach Elementary School. My mood did not improve. So I hopped on the next Northbound Train hoping that two stops up I could find a Transit Cop or someone to radio in to the driver before my phone disappeared.

I don't know if you've ever had to report a lost phone to Transit Police but they look at you like, "Dude, it's over. Move on." And say things like, "Have ya heard of an app called 'JailBreak'?" to which I tried not to explain how jail-breaking and phone theft work in reality because that just wouldn't help my situation. Then they tried not to laugh at me as I explained that it must have fallen out of my pocket. So embarrassing. Also, the first thing the cop did was tell me "Call Lost and Found, the number is blah-blah-blah". "Okay, is there a payphone nearby?" I asked. Then he laughed. I sighed and tried not to cry in public.

Eventually I got a hold of my husband, after running around three different buildings and almost crying at someone. I got into the car and bawled.

"I just wanted to buy The Hobbit tote bag I saw, go to the library and fill said tote bag with books and then go to the Book Festival! Why is today so bad?!" 

That, my friends, is a First Nerd Problem.

I went home and prepared to zap my phone from a distance (sorry, Better Midler is now in my head, too). But because I am apparently a hopeful person (it goes with that whole Chaotic Neutral thing) I sent a plaintive text from DH's phone to mine: "If found please call this number: ### ### ####". I sat at home and drank bourbon and apple-cider, bemoaning my First Nerd Problems and eating Indian Food. My Gandalf the White iPhone 4 was gone. I was Frodo sad.

And then my phone called me! A bus operator had found my phone and kept it safe so no one would steal it! She was glad I'd texted because she wasn't sure what to do at first.

Holy heck, +2 faith in humanity!

And to think, I'd been musing about sending rude messages to the thief!

My favorite plan was because my Lock Screen is the image below so I thought about texting:

 Valar morghulis

Good thing I didn't! It might've made this kind woman creeped out and I may never have been re-united with my lil phone! Rejoice!

So, I've got 9 Nerd Problems but a Phone Ain't One.

But I did receive sad news about my eReader. Apparently, B&N have decided to move on to brighter pastures with a Nook HD and HD+ tablet, essentially kissing off the Nook Color. There will probably be another update (maybe two if we're lucky) but they are not producing any more of the tablets and it's not even on the Nook front page anymore. Sigh. If that is the future, do I want to be a part of it? Do I want to shell out $199 or $269 for a  new Nook later this year? Do I really like the eReading experience that much? 

I hate when I have to worry about the battery dying, especially in bed, and I miss the smell of paper. I do like that it can stand on my chest and my arms are free to pet the beagle. I also like that I don't get hand cramps from 1000+ page books. But, as the Book Hoarder that I am I feel like I don't entirely own the books I have on there. For a few crappy ones, that's fine, but for GRRM books and Christopher Buckley novels that I'd lend to friends it doesn't quite feel right.

Part of the Budget Deal I made with DH for October is that I would go one whole month without buying a book — unprecedented — which will give me time to mull over this whole Nook situation. Am I a tech geek or a stickler for the classics? Or am I, in fact Chaotic Neutral?

Welcome Autumn, here is a wreath on Hobbit Day!

I have been ogling fall wreaths for many months now. In fact I've been waiting for Fall since Winter ended. Summer and I are not the closest of friends. I respect the boundaries that lie between us.

But Fall? Oh there is nothing better than a crisp fall day when you can wear a nice wooly sweater, knee-high boots and a soft scarf — throw in some delicious warm drink and you have the makings for My Own Private Ideal.

And now that we have this very pretty door I wanted to make a wreath for it.

I spent more than a few work days idly Pinning. There are some GORGEOUS. wreaths out there! I was drawn to the simple wreaths, ones that had flowers and leaves etc but they didn't "explode". I think it would too much with our front door.

A few really jumped out at me.

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I was particularly drawn to the fabric wreaths. Perhaps it's because I don't often work with the stuff; I'm not a terribly good seamstress, I'm still attempting to learn to knit...

The yarn wrapping was rather long, two hours or so. I watched "Mystery" on PBS which was nice. (It was not, regrettably, a Miss Marple episode though.)

 

You can tell I was highly influenced by The Spotted Fox's wreath but I also wanted to make it my own. In the end I went with 3/4 orange and 1/4 maroon. As I started wrapping the maroon I realized I was doing Virginia Tech colors. Our former roommate just moved down there to get his PhD so DH thinks it was a sub-conscious choice. Granted, he thought that I chose Orioles, Ravens and Redskins colors, too. 

But then I hot a tough choice: what to use as accents. Felt flowers or leaves? Both? Branches? I love trees and our bedroom is full of tree branches and images so maybe this one time I'll skip them. Okay, but that still leaves a tough call about flowers and leaves. On one hand, leaves are much more iconically autumnal with flowers denoting more spring feelings. Then again felt flowers are SO cool looking. I mean, just look at these:

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They are just stunning! I didn't have any beautiful buttons but a few nifty thrift store earrings could go nicely...

But, just as I settled on flowers (DH thought leaves were better until he saw above, for what its worth) the internet showed me some gorgeous felt leaves. 

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And another by this very talented lady!

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In the end I decided to do both. I have a few flowers and a few leaves. I used a pattern from Martha (I know, I know) for the maple and oak leaves but the other two I cut on a whim. I was very much inspired by the delicate stitching work on the leaves above and perhaps one day I will get there, but today it looks like this:

 

I went a simpler route for the flowers as well, and only did rosettes. I think the Make And Do Girl pattern is for later this week, perhaps I'll make a hair clip or a hat pin! I double checked the rosette with a tutorial because the last time I made flowers was last autumn for Dia De Los Muertos when I made a bunch of carnations out of tissue paper. I have big plans for this year's Offrenda, which was such a good way to express my grief over Dad, but that's for another day. Anywho, thanks to The Crafted Sparrow's tutorial I was on my way. 

And before I knew it, I had a new autumn wreath to hang on my door!

Or at least to on this gorgeous bit outside my bookstore, hehe. It's a very simple wreath but that's what I like about it. But don't be surprised if I keep adding on to it as fall continues.

And it's ready for our party tonight! It's Hobbit Day after all, so we decided to throw a Hobbitous Housewaming! So this afternoon is going to be full of cleaning, project finishing and then lots of merriment with our lovely friends. 

Happy Hobbit Day! Merry Mabon!

"Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile"

— Shakespeare's Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act I Scene i, Spoken by Berowne
 
Remember that terrible chandelier hanging from our middle room? The scourge of the 70s-80s? The blinding glass shame? The fixture that would be great if I were hosting a reenactment of Empty Nest.

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Okay, actually that sounds like a really fun party plan, I might do it. Regardless, it felt like cocaine had been snorted off of every prism or we needed a vinyl tablecloth and get fabric striped wallpaper.

Let's revisit our poor chum.

If you looked straight into it, it was like looking into the heart of the TARDIS which we all know messes with your head and can be really bad for any resident Daleks.

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For months I pinned ideas and fantasized about the lighting in my dining room/library. This is the room that houses my favorite pieces; all of my bookcases, the mid-century dining table that belonged to my grandmother, and the Jon Hamm bar all live in there!

And then one day, the husband and I had a rough weekend financially. Sometimes these things happen, a check gets deposited three weeks late, and then another and then another. Which, yes, was poor planning on our part but that's a whole different kind of tale. The point is, it was a few days until payday so two poor newlyweds would not be embarking on any kind of expensive DIY. But I needed to do something productive, anything to pull myself out of the cavern of self-loathing.

I tried my first idea, a Chinese lantern. A plain old, white round lantern. There are no photos of these attempts, by the by, because they failed pretty spectacularly. I removed all the of the glass prisms, all 16 of them and then attempted to shimmy the lantern around. The skeleton of this light fixture is to spokes of rods which are just the right length to tear a whole through the paper of a lantern. Sigh. I pretty much knew that would happen, but I was trying to prove a glass half-full hope. So, into the recycling with the torn up lantern.

The fixture is wired in such a way that it would take a hell of a lot to remove it from the ceiling, if you're wondering why that never happened. The joys of home renter-ship.

The poor husband heard me curse for awhile and tried to watch the MLB network around it.

Then I decided to put all of the prisms back on, which has to be done in a methodical way or else it leans precariously to one side, scary! Then I pulled out a roll of drawing paper. I tried to circumnavigate the  fixture. This also resulted in many curses and a few wobbly moments on the step-ladder. Enter husband, Dining Room Left. We fought with the paper, trying to get a sense of the length it would take to enshrine it. I thought to myself, I will draw things on the paper and it will shine through like stained glass! But the paper ripped, again and again. And the foul language continued. I decided to go back to organizing our books into LCC as a distraction. I must do something! I muttered through gritted teeth.

I happened across a tattered copy of Romeo & Juliet. To be honest I'm not sure to whom it belonged, he or I. Because I have a gorgeous complete works tome that I treasure I was about to toss the paperback into the pile to go to The Book Thing (a decidedly small assemblage as you can imagine). As I handled it I realized it was a rather narrow book, compared to it's height, not unlike the blasted prisms from the chandelier. 

The lightbulb in my brain went off (har har). I reached up and grabbed on of the prisms. The page was just a little short, but not unappealingly so. If they were all at the same length, it might even look purposeful. I began to run around the house for supplies. Poor DH had no idea what was going on as roadrunner careened up and down the staircase. 

My collection of materials was slight, a utility knife and a smaller calligraphy pen. I do not have a single hole punch, which might seem like the way to go, but even if I did I fear the holes would be too large.

I began by removing as many pages from the binding as I needed. The book was, as I said, pretty beat up so holding it flat open was easy. The point of the knife I pushed into the glued binding and a nice steady straight cut. Boom! Freed pages. 

When I experimented with the first page I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with the hole being a in an easy place to replicate. I went with the first line of text, beneath the Running Head. So I skewered as many pages as need and hung them with care. 

Because I left the drops on the paper is safe isn't a fire hazard (I'm pretty neurotic as it is, the last thing I need is The Towering Inferno in my dining room).

Et, voila!

 

 

Total price of project: $0
Duration: 10 minutes (maybe)

We are having our housewarming party this weekend (A Hobbitous Housewarming) so I can unveil it to my friends and family, yipee!

I suppose I could have used a quote from R&J  to title this, but everyone already knows that one so where is the fun? I might end up using different pages, books, authors, etcetera but I'm loathe to tear apart another book.

Speaking of the play, DH ended up doing an interactive version of it at the Renaissance Festival this year. If he's good I will only upload it to Facebook...

Library Studies 101

“Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink.” ― Barbara Pym

Which is good because our library and our bar live in the same room. Hello? Books and booze? A perfect combination. Throw in the beagle and it's all three of my babies. Okay, that's enough alliterative torture.

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The Library Project was inspired by my Dad. He always had this crazy notion to put all of his books in order, shelve them and then maintain them in a database with its own dedicated computer. So, before I started in on his large collection that I have requested be bequeathed to me, I wanted to try it out with my measly four bookcase collection. Plus, this was the first time all of the books were already in need of being shelved. I chose Library of Congress Classification over Dewey Decimal for a few reasons.

• Dad seemed to prefer LCC (even his LibraryThing account specified as such)
• "Uh, it's for grownups!" — an acquaintance who is studying for his MLS.
• I am just more familiar with it, period.
• Have you ever been to Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress? That's where I want to go when I die. (Or anywhere where my Dad's spirit is.)

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 Anyway, the decision was made and then the work ensued.

This is what we started with, (almost) all our books collected in the center of the room.

I have moved lots of times and I have moved lots of books each time. Use boxes designated for copier paper
— trust me — they fit books well and you end up with the perfect weight. Avoid a pulled back or cardboard ripping and book cascade! 

Now, I thought I was ahead of the game a bit because in my previous library incarnations I kept books together (loosely) by genre. This is why every box is labeled carefully, e.g. the bottom box reads "Books — Nonfiction (Memoirs & Bios)".

Once we put the shelves up barren (of which I regrettably do not have a photo) it already felt more studious than in our old house. This is why I like dark-colored shelving, it feels more literary than plain white by a landslide. So, one day I got up early (seriously, I woke up at like 5am for no apparent reason other than I wanted to get started) and made many cups of coffee. James left for work and I started pulling books out.


There are a few tools necessary.


One thing that is useful to have when beginning a project like this is the internet. Since the majority of my books do not have the updated LCC info on the reverse of the title page. So, what you can do (and I was forced to do until the cable guy came later that evening) was make piles of "to research". At some points I got antsy and started looking things up on my iPhone, which I'm sure was great for our data plan (le sigh).

After some practice I discovered I did not like using the LoC Online Catalog for this purpose. It was not designed for referencing in this manner.

But, Classify is a great tool! This experimental database contains "91 million classification numbers" and is not limited to LCC or DDC. It's attached to WorldCat which is a great way to find a book in your local library no matter where you are. 

The other good thing to familiarize yourself with is the basic structure of the system. I printed one out and eventually copied it by hand (because I'm a verbal-visual learner like that). This will help keep you in check should you get a bad call number, which will happen from time to time.

There are numerous outlines to be found and the most detailed is from the LoC (big shock there). They offer a printable version of each but that would result in hundreds of pages and be a big waste of time/paper. So, I found one that was much more simple. I also wanted to have a copy of the outline available to refer to later when everything is all shelved. At some point this will actually be created and I'll be sure to make it available.

My tools other than that were post-it notes and a pen (the other stickers and the marker come in later)

So, in the grand scheme I spent nothing because I already had all of my materials but on the off-chance that I didn't the project would have been $11.66 or $311.63 with shelves (minus cost of books).

I've staged this over several days so I estimate the hours to be 12-24 depending on the size of your library. The first step is the longest!

1. OCLC Classify — free
2. Outline of LCC — $0)
3. Recycled 3"x3" Post-Its (here) — already had, approximately $6.10 retail
4. Ball-point pen — already had, approximately $1.82/2 pack
5. 1/2" x 32/4" Multi-purpose labels (similar version found here) — already had, apparently paid $2.10 years ago
6. Ultra-Fine Point Sharpie — already had, approximately $1.64/2 pack
7. Billy Bookshelves from IKEA, in black-brown retails for about $299.96
1. 3 of the 31.5"x 11" cases, already had, $79.99 each ($239.97 +tax)
2. 1 of the 15.75" x 11" case, already had, $59.99 each

Step One — Identify Call Number
Write it out on a sticky note and place upon the cover.

Classify allows you to search in many ways, via ISBN, UPC, ISSN, and up-frotn with Title and/or Author. 

If you have found numerous call numbers for the same title, either grab your handy outline or write both and make a note to check it later.

 

Sometimes a book may have two different call numbers listed, but as your familiarize yourself more with the system you will probably be able to decide which you would prefer to use.

This is going to be the longest part of this process, it will take the most time so do not be discouraged!

Step Two — Group Books by Main Class
It's really tempting to go ahead and start lining books up on the shelves in their detailed order. I know, I did this at first. It was a real heart-breaker when I realized it was folly and a real head-ache when I had to move everything else after it. 

It will be a surprise how many or how few you have of certain classes. James and I have a lot of C (Auxiliary Sciences of History), E (History of the Americas), PQ (French Literature), PR (English Literature), and PS (American Literature). I did not expect us to have as much B (Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion) but it was a pleasant surprise — minus the moving everything thereafter as I mentioned.

 
It looks like quite a mess, doesn't it? It was a long day of piles but that's the longest and most trying part!

Step Three — Move Everything To Shelves
If  you have some spare sticky-notes, it might be a good idea to put them around each section so if you have a stray book you can find it's home (roughly) rather quickly.

Step Four — Label The Spines
Now that all of the books are known to you and in relatively the right spot you can make for the really good looking part, spine identification. Grab those Multi-purpose labels and a fine point sharpie. You could, of course, type them and label that way, which is much more authentic but for me and for the time  I have, handwritten is fine.

I labeled all of the books, removed the post-its and and waited until everybody was "spined" before organizing. 

Could you skip the Post-It stage entirely and go straight for the spine? Absolutely. I wanted to make myself more familiar with the system by doing it the long way, but that's just me :)

Step Five — Re-Shelve and Show Off
Now that you can see the Call Numbers from the spines it should be very easy to put all of your books in the correct order.

Now, kick back with the book of your choice and enjoy the pages!

Your Time is Gonna Come

Your Time is Gonna Ccccooooommmmmme (rocks out).

The last few weeks have been fairly incredible in terms of weather for those us in the mid-atlantic. Searing temperatures and a mini-hurricane. Okay, no one is referring to it as a mini-hurricane but I think they should. It was a brief but NASTY storm which took out power for over 3million and all kinds of terrible damage.

Our little abode was safe and sound, luckily, we only suffered a street light going out — and I hate how bright it is anyway. We were in fact quite lucky as many of my friends went several days with no power, read: no air conditioning, for 100°+ days.

To be honest, when the temperature is high I become a sloth.

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I have no interest in moving, cleaning, organizing, or cooking. Turn on the oven and descend further into the Inferno? I think not! (Yes, I know it actually gets cold at the bottom.)

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So, all in all, very little has been accomplished outside of day-to-day necessities. We've started eating dinner either at extreme times, early-bird special or late-night dinner like rich Victorians with oil lamps. Anything to avoid sitting in a miserable lower floor.

To help offset the gruesome heat (have you figured out I do not like summer?) I have picked up Anna Karenina again. I read half of it some three years ago but never finished. I decided to go back for two reasons. One being that reading about frozen Russia helps cool me down. The other being that there is a new movie coming out this November. I don't want the book ruined for me by "spoilers" and the like. I mean, I know the big scenes by osmosis practically, but I take pleasure in what leads to said scenes. And because I have the hots for Matthew Macfayden, Keira Knightley, and Jude Law I want to see the darned thing. My father always raised me to read the book before I could see the film. This is why I read A Clockwork Orange when I was in middle school.

Anywho, this week I'm getting off of my bum again. I'm keeping track of my food courtesy of MyFitnessPal app on my phone and sticking to the meal plans we create. The soaring temperatures were breeding ground for delivery.

My big projects for July are as follow:

• Paint the mailbox orange
• Reorganize cabinets
• Get all books in library labeled, cataloged and documented into a database
• Hang photos in a gallery style in stairwell
• Plan our housewarming party!

The Orange Box
Before we painted it the mailbox was a greyish rusty nightmare that gave me eye Tetanus. Maybe that's a little hyperbolic. Which, for whatever reason make me think of an avatar I made a few years ago.


Anyway, the thing was nasty.
 
We used paint called "Carrot Stick" by Behr.

I wanted to make a nice Oriole mailbox for the husband since he very often loses the color debates (sorry, babe). And I thought it would really pop with our teal Adirondack chairs. And one day to our delight the blossoms in our front yard exploded with color. Bright orange canna lillies! How lucky are we? Whoever planted them some ten-odd years ago gets a tip of my hat.

All of the colors are bright and make our house stand out in a really pleasant way. You can see I like bright green in all parts of my house! The top of the box needs another coat but I'm saving that for Sunday when it's pretty much non-operational.


Cabinet Chaos!
The cabinet re-do is in progress. It was pretty awful to start out (check out my mess!)

It's pretty shameful, huh? Let's look a little closer and really accept what's going wrong here.

It's a bit blurry to protect the innocent food products. Please note the green bin that is somehow angled up over food items. How does that happen?

I took everything out and tossed what was past-due. Keeping Oils & Sauces on the bottom was a big pain in the arse so I knew immediately that I had to move them up.

These snack bins were so over-filled and disorganized that neither of us could tell what was even in there! It was a lot easier to make or get something unhealthy when the healthy snacks required a treasure map.

Progress! I made a little but it's already less stressful.

 

It's not exactly the height of sophistication but it so much better than before! 

Now we can see our snacks again! I'll need to make some labels for each bin. The left is Popcorn, Crackers & Chips while the right is Dried Fruit, Nuts, & Granola Bars. I definitely want to perfect this in the summer so it's working when we have to pack lunches every day in the fall. 

 

Speaking of labels, I finally plastered on these guys. These are from the Martha Stewart Line that Avery released recently. I do not, hilariously, have any chalk. I guess it got tossed in the move. You'd think a teacher's home would be filled with the stuff!

 

 

 Don't they look smart on my glass canisters? The lack of chalk gives me time to imagine what writing style I want to use. Knowing me, that will take awhile.

Librarians Do It In the Stacks
The library is coming along but that's a whole other post.


This Time "Hung" is the Correct Term
We are still waiting on digital copies of our wedding photos so we are less inclined to plan the hanging party.


Eventually We're Gonna Party Like It's 1999
Except in 1999 I didn't have access to booze so I think it'll be more fun this time 'round.