Digging in the Dirt

I'm off work today, and it's been raining all day long. Good time to try and go through more boxes, and get the house arranged a little more. Hopefully by summer we'll have everything put away...

Last Sunday was absolutely beautiful in Minneapolis. The wife and I went for a walk around Lake Harriet, then spent about 5 hours in the yard. We're planning on having a nice little vegetable garden, but there was a lot of prep work First we had to pull up a ton of grass:



Then we moved a peony:



(Speaking of peonies, I've always put the emphasis on the second syllable- pe-OWN-ee. Apparently I've been mispronouncing it for years- so, it's supposed to rhyme with "pee on me?")

Finally, we turned the soil, added some peat moss/compost/soil mixture and fertilizer, and planted a few things. We picked up the following plants at the nursery: 4 cauliflower, 4 brussels sprouts, 2 green leaf lettuce, 1 basil, and 1 cilantro. We also planted some seed: spinach, lettuce mix, swiss chard, carrots, radishes, chives, and green onion. It was early to plant in MN (April 23), but it's been a very warm spring, and everything but the herbs thrive in cooler weather. In a couple weeks, I'm going to head to the Friends School plant sale, and get tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and anything else that looks good. We'll also seed some cucumbers, squash, and beans in a month or two.

Overall, the garden's looking pretty good:



We're smiling in that picture, despite the fact that our bodies are already beginning to ache. Walking was painful for many days afterward. You don't realize how much you're straining your hamstrings, lower back, triceps, shoulders, etc. while you're doing it...

We had a few nights that dropped down into the 30s, and the peony and cilantro are looking pretty sorry. I knew it was way early to plant herbs, but I just couldn't help myself. Cilantro's hard enough to grow when it's 95 and sunny every day. A few of the seeds are starting to sprout, and one of the cauliflower plants has seemingly doubled in size. I'll keep posting pictures throughout the summer.

Faith in the Library

A phone call at the reference desk yesterday-

Me: R____ Library Information Desk. May I help you?

She: Yeah. Um...I'm on your Website, and I typed in the name of a book, and I'm not finding it. Um...am I doing something wrong, or is it possible that there's a book that the library doesn't have?

The book in question was a manual to help teachers develop idividualized educational plans (IEPs). There were a total of three academic libraries in the state that owned it. She elected not to do an interlibrary loan request, and instead is going to buy it. It would be pretty cool to work at a library that had all the books ever published...


Another patron asked if there was a resource that would translate a word from English to all other modern languages!!! When I mentioned how many different languages are spoken in the world (using Africa as an example), she said "I'm not worried about specific dialects- just distinctly different languages. I'm sure one language in South Africa would be sufficient, for example."

Of course, having been to South Africa, I had to respond. "Well, Afrikaans, Xhosa, and Zulu are nothing alike, not to mention the other 8 official languages of South Africa."

There are some online resources (Babel Fish, in particular), that do a decent job translating, but they'll only translate to a few major languages. We also have some english-to-foreign language dictionaries, but, again, only for the major world languages. Maybe someday we'll have some sort of electronic resource that will be capable of this type of mass translation...

Recycled Books

The Portland Public Library (Maine, that is) is doing something really cool with discarded books. The fact that they're allowing the books/art to be checked out seems a little odd. They're even allowing them to be sent out through interlibrary loan. While I think it's an interesting article, the fact that Doug Beube "has been debating keeping one or two and paying the standard replacement fee of $150," and that Allan Chasanoff has elected to steal "an altered book or two" is deplorable, and Amy Sutherland should have called them to task for this.

Here's some required reading, courtesy of Howard Zinn.

This sounds like a movie I would enjoy: Blackballed, starring Rob Corddry (of "Daily Show" fame). "Caught cheating and banned for ten years, Bobby Dukes, paintball's first superstar, returns to reclaim his title and erase the memory of his tainted past." Hopefully it makes it to theaters soon.

A New Toy!

My 32nd birthday was last week, and here I am with the coolest present I've gotten in a long time (since Castle Grayskull?)- yes, I'm talking about the beautiful San Francisco Giants t-shirt from Matt DiPietro. Of course, the t-shirt was nothing compared to the birthday greeting he gave me on his blog.

OK, I guess the iPod that the wife surprised me is a wee bit more exciting than a Giants shirt. I bought a 128 MB IRiver MP3 player while I was in Denver, and it's great for jogging- it's tiny, but doesn't hold much music. I've been talking about getting a large-capacity MP3 player for a long time now, and I think Jen got it for me just to shut me up. It's one of the new (5th generation) iPods, that will play video (although I don't forsee using that feature very often). It's got 30 GB of space, yet it's half the size of a pack of smokes! See below:



I'm going to have a lot of fun with this thing, once I figure out how to use it. My only major complaint so far is that all that came with the thing was a pair of headphones and a data/charging cord that connects to a USB port. If I want to charge it in a wall outlet, I've gotta buy a $30 piece of equipment! Or, if I want to run an audio line out to a stereo, view pictures/video on a television, get a strap to take it running...I'll probably be spending an additional $100+ in accessories. I guess that's just the way it goes, but it still pisses me off a little.

There's also the issue that you need to be running iTunes software on any computer that you want to transfer files from. My PC at home is using Windows 98, so that won't work, and the security settings at work won't allow me to install software on my computer.

So far here's what I have on my iPod:
Bruce Springsteen- Greeting from Asbury Park, NJ
Cloud Cult- Advice from the happy hippopotamus
The Hold Steady- Separation Sunday
Mike Doughty- Haughty Melodic
The New Pornographers- Twin cinema
Nick Lowe- Basher- (The Best of)
Patti Smith- Horses
Shout Out Louds- Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Spoon- Gimme Fiction
Matt Votel's Punk Mix

and one video- Phish- You Enjoy Myself- 12/31/94. Phish has started offering video downloads of certain live performances for $2/song. I downloaded this just to check out the video feature of the iPod. The picture is really nice and clear, but the screen is tiny. Plus, watching video drains the battery like crazy. I don't think I'm going to be downloading many videos to my iPod.

I've still got to figure out exactly how I'm going to use my iPod- how selective I'm going to be about music that I put on the thing, etc. I'm sure my entire CD collection won't quite fit, but I might focus more on newer music, or CDs that I haven't listened to a lot, along with essential stuff.

Like I said, I probably won't be using the video playback very often, but it's pretty cool to see Trey and Mike do their trampoline thing during YEM right now!

Music Is in the Air

Springtime in Minneapolis means not only blooming tulips, Twins baseball, and returning mosquitoes, but also the prospect of live music at dozens of outdoor venues. Over the past few days, there's been a flurry of concert schedules being released. Nothing spectacular so far, but definitely some stuff worth checking out.

Grand Old Day is Sunday, June 4. Should be a crazy weekend, with Jen's 30th birthday on Saturday, and Butchie's birthday on Friday! Billy's stage hasn't been announced, but Ike Reilly, The Plastic Constellations, and Birthday Suits are on Dixie's stage.

Mill City Live starts June 1. You've gotta love free outdoor music. I'd be interested in pretty much all of these shows, particularly Charlie Parr and Yawo.

Music in the Zoo kicks off in mid-June. Tickets still aren't cheap, but I'm pretty sure they've come way down from last year. The Yonder Mountain String Band and Sam Bush shows only run $25. Speaking of YMSB, apparently they recorded with a drummer for their album due out May 9. Oh, the horror! I haven't heard it yet, so I guess I should reserve judgement.

The Taste of Minnesota runs June 30-July 4. While there aren't any great bands lined up, I'd like to see Alice Cooper, Soul Asylum, the Melismatics, Cloud Cult...

The Flaming Lips might be coming to the MN State Fair! That would be an interesting experience.

"I'm the Decider."

Good musical parody of our nation's fearless leader here.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When I started this blog, I envisioned writing a lot about my experiences at the library's reference desk- interesting/stumper questions, wacky patrons, cool new resources. In fact, the inspiration for my first post was a guy calling and asking a reference question about an NFL from a few seasons ago. I've always been disappointed by the Dispatches From a Public Librarian, mainly because he posts so rarely.

But I haven't written too much about life at the library. The 5 hours I spent on the reference desk today provided me with some stuff to write about.

The Good

A gentleman came up to the desk at about 10:15, and was interested in getting some info about the composite wood industry- some sort of extruded wood/plastic combination, that's all the rage when building decks these days. It was a real stumper, because it's an industry that's not really classified by conventional means (SIC/NAICS codes, etc.)- it's kind of a newer combination of different manufacturing industries. The Business & Company Resource Center database, which often has articles & overviews of various industries, was no help. This fella was planning on heading down to the James J. Hill library in downtown St. Paul, but figured he'd try us first.

He did have the name of one private German company, which predictably yielded no information in any of our company directories. I finally resorted to a Google search, with the name of the company and "composite wood." This led us to the Web site of an industry magazine, Plastics Technology. We found many articles that interested the patron, particularly one that talked a little bit about sales information. He found exactly what he was looking for in the free online content from this publication. He was happy as a clam, and I ended up learning a little bit about wood-filled plastics. (You can drive a nail into them, and use them just like you'd use a piece of wood, but they're supposed to last forever. You can see why people are making decks out of them.)

The Bad

One of my biggest pet peeves in the world is when people eat while they're talking to you on the phone. I had a phone call from a woman today who was snacking non-stop, and rustling a bag of some sort. It drove me crazy! A coworker told me I should have told her to call me back after snack time was over. I probably should have asked politely for her to stop- I don't know.

The Funny

I was helping a patron perform a catalog search. He asked how he would find more books like the one he had in his hand (Family Trees for Dummies, or something along those lines), and I showed him how to access the online catalog, and suggested a subject search. He said "Should I type in Gee..Gy...Gynecology?" [pronounced Jynocology] I nearly had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud. I said "You should type in 'genealogy.'" And then I spelled it for him, since he was having trouble with it.

Complements are Nice

Top 5 things library patrons have said to me recently:

1. You're beautiful
2. You're amazing
3. You're perfect
4. You're the man
5. You made my day

If we could only put a tip jar on the reference desk...

The other day, I'm pretty sure I talked to the real-life Grampa Simpson. I can't even remember what his question was, but he told me all about when he was an officer in the navy, and he was the only sailor who knew how to fix a diesel engine. He used to take the jeeps out for joy rides, and the ladies on shore all loved him. He talked about his wife at length. She was "smart as a whip, and had a great figure, to boot. Although she never made lot of money, she was able to save 1/4 million dollars. This went on for 20 minutes. As they say, part-time librarian, part-time bartender.

A Victory For Green Space!

The Minneapolis City Council chose a park over condo or retail development along the Mississippi next to the new home of the Guthrie Theater. Yeehaw! (It's a privately funded park, so it was probably a no-brainer, but a green victory regardless.) I'm so sick of seeing condo developments on every damn corner...

Boxing Flicks

We watched Cinderella Man the other night. I thought it was a very good movie, but Renee Zelwigger was simply awful! I'm definitely not joining her fan club. There were scenes in the movie that made me feel physically ill because of her "acting."

Definitely worth watching- it's a great story. I guess I'd call it my fifth-favorite boxing movie ever:

1. Raging Bull
2. Rocky
3. Diggstown
4. When We Were Kings
5. Cinderella Man
6. Don King- Only in America
7. Rocky II
8. Ali
9. Rocky III
10. Rocky IV
11. The Champ

88. Million Dollar Baby

When We Were Kings might belong on another list, since it's a documentary. I saw The Champ when I was really young, and all I really remember is that it's very sad. I haven't really seen Rocky III or IV since I was a kid, so maybe I would think they stunk if I saw them today...

Ween + Legos = Brilliant!

This is awesome! A Ween fan created a homemade video for "The Mollusk," using Lego characters.

Before this, the coolest Lego thing I had seen was Bat Girl's reenactment of a Twins-White Sox brawl a couple years ago.

Killer Kitchen Tip

Disclaimer: I understand what I'm about to write qualifies as a nerdy. That's OK with me.

One of the coolest things I've learned recently is how to keep cilantro & other herbs fresh. As soon as you get home from the store, you place them into a glass of water (just like a bouquet of flowers).




It's all very logical, but I hadn't heard this tip until very recently. It stays nice and fresh much longer than storing it in a plastic bag. You wash the cilantro, and dry it thoroughly. Then you place it into a glass or jar of water. Then, you cover it with a baggie:










Fresh cilantro for months! (OK, days.) Pretty friggin' cool, eh?

Rock and Roll Movies

Here's a sad story from Mammoth Mountain ski area in California- three ski patrols died. Wouldn't you think these guys would be equipped with oxygen tanks? Isn't is pretty well-known that breathing volcanic gasses can kill you?

There's a new biopic about former Rolling Stone Brian Jones coming out soon. This guy says it's not all that great, but I'm definitely going to see it. The trailer looks pretty good to me (watch it here).

With the success of Ray and Walk the Line, I'm hoping there's going to be more musician biopics coming out. Roger Daltrey has wanted to do a Keith Moon movie for a long time, and recently Mike Myers agreed to play Moon. (I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. Moon was pretty goofy, and Myers should be able to nail his accent, so it might work out.) However, the movie's being held up because Daltrey has yet to read a script that he likes. I hope it gets resolved, because that would make for a great movie.

Spring Has Sprung

It's 59 and sunny in the Twin Cities right now, which feels awesome. There's no feeling that compares with the emergence of spring in the Midwest. Walking outside in shorts or a t-shirt for the first time in six months, leaving work and enjoying an hour or two of daylight, seeing the flora start to awaken from its slumber- it's enough to make you want to write a poem or something.

Andy and Jessica Madigan had their baby on Saturday- Liam Andrew Madigan. An April Fool's Day baby- I wonder if he'll be a prankster... I haven't seen any pictures yet, but I'm sure they're coming. Actually, it's interesting to notice the difference between baby #1 and baby #2 when it comes to updating Web sites, emailing photographs, etc. The same thing happened in my family- my brothers were 2 years apart, and then I came along 5 1/2 years later. There are tons of pictures of them growing up together, but only a handful after I arrived. I guess the novelty wears off.

In honor of the nice weather, I dusted off the running shoes, and went jogging yesterday for the first time in a long time- September? It felt great to get out there, but my poor asthmatic lungs were not happy at all. I only went about a mile or so, but I was wheezing like crazy. I'll just have to ease my way back into it. In addition, my legs are sore as hell today. I got a jump start on the season last year, as I was running around Lake Calhoun in January and February. I'm guessing I won't be able to whup Dave and Mal in the Melpomene 5K this year.

Jen and I headed to Adrian's Bar & Grill on Chicago to grab a bite to eat and watch the Twins drop their opener to the Blue Jays. I was surprised to see good beer on tap: Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Guinness, and Newcastle, to name a few. "I assume you guys aren't just a 3.2 joint anymore?" I asked the waitress. "Nope" was the reply. How friggin cool is that? I used to stop by Adrian's after shifts at the Chicago Deli, and play Addams Family pinball, but I've never ordered a beer there before, since 3.2 beer tastes like crap.

They even had a special on Stella Artois- $3.25 for a 20 oz glass! Methinks we'll be hitting this neighborhood watering hole quite often. They also have Galaga machine, and the place is walking distance from home.

A Little Common Sense

I guess i don't have to leave my home state in shame:

Minnesota Senate committee rejects marriage amendment


I understand that the vengeful god types feel obligated to keep fighting for "traditional" marriage, but politicians should look at the big picture, shouldn't they? (At least the politicians who live in decent-sized metropolitan areas.) In 20 years, the people fighting to deny same-sex couples equal rights will be viewed in a very, very poor light.

Move Completed!

Well, almost completed. We've still got a pickup truck to unload and a ton of boxes to unpack. Zulu is finally starting to feel a little more comfortable in the new digs. She likes hanging out on the futon mattress, which is on top of a chair right now. Once she adjusts to her new surroundings, she'll love it. There's a lot more room for her to explore, and there are many more windows for her to stretch out in front of.

The move went very smoothly. We were crossing our fingers that the weather forecast would be accurate- one day of dry, mild weather, amidst rainy ones. We picked the truck up around 9 AM, and it was a tad bit chilly early on- it ended up being a beautiful day, though. Tedward, Schwei, and Krengel were a big help, and it was a pretty painless experience. Hoisting the boxspring and mattress up onto the roof in order to get them into the bedroom was an interesting experience, but not very difficult- the fact that Joe is tall (6'5"?) certainly helped. We were a little concerned about getting the couch in through the front door, but it snuck right through, with about a half inch to spare on each side.

Now, the task at hand is to try and make the place feel like it's ours. We're limited in what we can do in the way of rearranging, so I'm sure most people will walk in and feel like they're at Joy & Matt's place. The life-sized Ozzy Osbourne posters I'm putting up in every room might help, though.