Re-learning a lesson

So I'm up in NYC for the weekend with my dog staying with my friend CH. He's gracious enough to let me crash on his futon. Actually, I think it's all about my dog, and he just puts up with me to see her. Figures. The purpose of this trip is to see my friend EH and meet his fiancee. It's also nice to spend some time and hang out with CH as we're both so busy that it doesn't happen very often.

Anyway, last night we met up with a couple of his friends for dinner at Great Jones Cafe. They have excellent cajun style food like gumbo and jambalaya. Their pulled pork sandwich was fantastic. So were the crayfish we split as an appetizer.

We also had margaritas. Good margaritas. Tequila and I don't generally get long, to the point that I had a no tequila rule for 2007 (the result of a night involving too many tequila shots). But, since they're known for their margaritas, I figured I'd give it a try and just not go overboard. No shots. Just a couple of nice margaritas (stopping at two).

Mistake. Big big mistake.

I have now re-learned my lesson. NO TEQUILA. Ever. It's not about how much tequila I drink. It doesn't matter, it's going to make me sick/nauseous.

I'm not going to forget again. This is not a lesson I particularly want to keep re-learning.

A little beer, and a LOT of rain

We had another happy hour for work last night. Despite the horrible rainy weather, we had a decent turn out. And we tried a new bar and pub: Slainte (pronounced Slawn-cha). The name means "cheers" in Gaelic. It's a new bar in West Philly, owned by the same people as the New Deck Tavern. It's a modern yet classic bar, lots of rich dark hardwood, and very comfortable barstools (I tested them thoroughly). They have a great selection of European beers on tap, including Guiness and my favorite Smithwicks, and a few American beers like Sam Adams as well. The even have hard cider on tap and decent happy hour specials. We sampled the cheddar and beer dip (similar to a Welsh rarebit), which came with toasts and veggies for dipping. The toasts were delicious, and dusted with black pepper. And surprisingly, the vegetables worked well with the cheddar beer dip, even the cucumber! We also sampled the chicken and cheese quesadillas, which were very tasty. I do believe we'll be having another happy hour there sometime next month. And I'm interested in going back and trying the rest of their menu for lunch or dinner.

Today the sky really opened up and we've been under a flood warning here in Philly. It poured, and I do mean poured, rain all day. We even had some thunder and lightening. It would have been great, except for one small detail: I had to go out in it. I needed dog food. Needed as in Aussie wouldn't get dinner if I didn't go to the pet store. So off I went. I was a bit crazy and took the dog with me, and by the time we went for our morning walk, and went in and out of the store, Aussie looked like she had enjoyed several baths and I felt a bit like a drowned rat. Five hours later my coat is still drying out and my shoes will probably be damp for a few days. I am very glad that I learned to drive in the rain of Portland, OR. The other crazies on the road, however, could use a few lessons on driving in heavy rain with water on the roadway.

A measure I can get behind

Currently in Pennsylvania, unless you go to a deli/restaurant or a bar (where it's marked up), you can't buy less than a case (24 cans or bottles) of beer at a time from a beer distributor (i.e. a beer store, wine/liquor stores are separate). For a single person that doesn't drink much, that's a LOT of beer. Sometimes I don't get all the way through a case before it starts to go skunky on me. So I waste money. It also means I have to buy a LOT of only one kind. This is fine for a party, but frankly, I get sick of drinking the same thing for weeks on end and inevitably end up with a few bottles that have gone bad before I get around to wanting it again. I like variety in my beer diet just like I like variety in my food diet. Sure, you can purchase mixed cases, but they always include 6 bottles of something I don't like, so I waste money yet again. I'm on a budget. I can't waste money on beer I'm not going to drink or that's going to go bad before I can drink it. Beer is too precious for that, thankyouverymuch.

So I haven't been buying beer very often unless I'm taking it to a pot luck or open house. I've been buying wine instead since I can buy less at a time.

There's a measure right now in the legislature to allow for the sale of smaller quantities of beer from beer distribution stores. This makes me happy. In fact, I'd probably buy more beer on a more regular basis because I'd have that variety I crave. Ironically, some local beer brewers are trying to block it, out of fear that the sale of packs containing 12 or 18 bottles/cans would hurt their business because they're not equipped to package beer in quantities other than 6 or 24 packs. The brewers that do distribute 18 packs are the big named national companies like Anheuser-Busch, not the local microbreweries. Many microbreweries are afraid that because they can't offer those sizes to consumers it means they'll lose business and people will be buying those 18 packs of Budweiser and Miller as opposed to their microbrews.

Frankly, I think the objecting microbreweries are being shortsighted and just a little bit idiotic.

See, I'm a beer snob. I'm not interested in the big national beers like Budweiser. I want good microbrews. That's what I like. That's what I drink. Most of my friends are the same way. And right now the fact that I can't get a variety of good microbrews without paying mark-up or getting stuck with stuff I don't want means I'm actually NOT BUYING BEER very often.

If they want me to buy more beer, then let me buy it in quantities that are reasonable and that give me a variety of tastes and styles. As a beer drinker, I'm all for supporting this beer-sale reform proposal.

A six-pack of controversy to go | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/03/2008

ALA Annual 2007: day 0, arrival

So I ended up in the same train car as several of my colleagues. How random. The train was as packed as our schedules, so I may not see them again until we're all back in the same building next week.

I had no problem getting from Union Station to my hotel on the Metro. I heart DC's public transit system. I still had my Metro card from CONSER, all charged up and ready to go. I arrived at the hotel to find that my roommate, SM (friend who visited me in Philly not to long ago, former colleague), was already there. We chatted for a bit, catching up on our gossip and our recent trips (she survived a trip to a place that can only be described as Las Vegas designed by Ned Flanders), until we realized we were quite hungry.

We both had tourist guides with us (yay for geeky librarians being prepared) and we found a Thai place that the book boasted had the best pad thai in the city. Worth investigating. We left the hotel and walked into a rainstorm, a pretty normal summer-in-DC fast moving downpour, dashing from storefront awning to storefront awning for the 10 block walk. We found Thai Kingdom, and decided it looked good. We were not disappointed.

Yummy. SM decided to sample the pad thai, and said it was one of the better ones she's had. I thoroughly enjoyed my vegetable red curry, even if it was a bit on the oily side. After eating way too much food, we headed out to try and find other colleagues. It took a bit, but we did find them, after asking a valet where the restaurant was (an excellent example of using the resources available to us!). Having just stuffed ourselves, we sat for a bit while everyone else ate and chatted.

Eventually we all headed out, SM and other back to various hotels, and myself, well, Kramerbooks had a pint or two with my name on it. And my friends EM and MP were there holding down the fort and saving a barstool for me. We had an excellent time, complete with leaving random voice mails for various friends (sorry, JS, you do get some doozies, don't you?) that weren't in town yet or couldn't make it to ALA this year. Just because that's how we roll.

NASIG 2007: day 2

Friday, June 1st, 2007

Each day at NASIG starts with a Vision Session. A speaker is invited to come and talk to all of us on a topic that is relevant to librarianship, technology, and/or life in general. Our first speaker was Bob Stein, from the USC Annenberg Center. He talked about issues of authority and how to determine an authoritative version of a work from the beginning of printing to the digital age. It was interesting to think about how marginalia in a book can create a new version of a work. And how marginalia exists in the digital world and how that network impacts what it means to be human. One thought I really liked was the idea that before you can design the answer to a problem/question/issue, you have to understand the purpose of what you do.

After the group Vision Session, we had a series of Strategy Sessions and Tactics Sessions, with lunch and breaks mixed in. There are many simultaneous sessions, and fortunately most of them are repeated during the conference. A few, however, are not repeated. One such session was on leadership and how technical services has taught people to be leaders. Being a technical services librarian (which includes all the behind the scenes aspects like cataloging), I thought the session would be interesting. And it was. I now have a reading list of books and articles the three speakers recommended that sound really interesting. Nothing like a little light summer reading, no?

I also attended a session on a new vision for applying FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) to continuing resources. This is an issue that has been debated for years. Serials do not fit neatly into the FRBR model. They just don't. This project involves the creation of a superworkspression record that would function as an authority record for that particular serial title. I'm not completely happy with this idea. One, it involves re-cataloging things. I don't have time to catalog everything now, much less re-catalog things I've already dealt with. Besides, I don't see why we have to re-do things. Personally, I think we should be able to make our systems manipulate the data we already have. I recognize that this presentation was for an idea that is currently being worked on, it's in process, so there are obviously things to be worked out. It will be interesting to see where they go with this new application of the FRBR model to serials.

The nice thing about this conference, is that you aren't required to attend everything, so if there's a block of time that doesn't have anything that you're interested in or that relates to your job, you have some down time to visit with more people or just take a nap. There is a such thing as "conference fatigue" where your brain just can't handle anything else, and the lack of sleep combined with the intensity catches up with you. So down time when you can get it is immensely valuable for warding off "conference fatigue." Basically, I'm offering an excuse for the fact that I took some time to myself before the evening's activities kicked off.

Breakfast and lunch are provided at the conference, but dinners you are on your own. Locals attending the conference offer to take people on "dine arounds" to various restaurants walking distance from the hotel. A group of us usually have some sort of "anti" dine around where we go off and find another restaurant, usually something ethnic or generally weird. B and I picked out an African restaurant, even looked at the menu online, and we all headed out. There was a group of 10 of us, wandering down the street. On the way, we spotted not one, not two, but THREE wig shops!! NASIG is not complete without seeing a wig shop. We have seen one on each and every NASIG I've attended, and always within 10 blocks of the hotel. Fabulous!

So after our wig shop sighting for this NASIG, we continued on our way to the restaurant. Alas, the fates were not smiling, and it was closed! Bummer. Fortunately, a member of our group, PM, had a map, which he promptly pulled out. Now that's using your resources and being prepared. Impressive. Just down the street was the Bluegrass Brewing Co. So that's where we went. It was good. The beer was good, the company was good, the food was good, and our waitress, Kim, was excellent.

After dinner, we headed back to the 4th Street Live area for martinis. There had been many a discussion about the merits of a gin martini versus a vodka martini, so we decided we must have a martini night to compare. We landed at the Red Star Tavern. JS is a gin person, and I'm a vodka person. We each ordered our favorites, and then exchanged. Then we exchanged back. Not that the other option was bad, but I think we each preferred our favorite martini style. After doing more sitting and chatting, we all started to get restless.

A few people headed back to the hotel because they were tired, but the majority of us headed out for some dancing. When we walked into the street, we discovered that they were holding a fashion show in the middle of the street! Crazy. It meant that there was not only loud music inside the bars, but outside, and there were people everywhere. Talk about a party in the street. We headed to a place called the Tengo Sed Cantina (yes, I'm laughing quite hard about the name) for some dancing and craziness. And we all had fun. My mentee, EL, told me she had a blast and is already looking forward to next year. Awesome! But it was a very late night. Ah, the joys of conferences.

Company this weekend! YAY!

I have another friend visiting this weekend from the PCOR (previous city of residence). We started off as just colleagues. In fact, I was actually part of the search committee that recommended hiring her. Fortunately for us, admin listened and offered her the job. Once SM arrived, we hit it off as friends, too. SM was one of my better friends in my PCOR, so it will be wonderful to see her and hang out. We even room together at conferences (having roommates help cut costs, very important on a librarian's budget). Work is so much more rewarding when you like spending time with your colleagues and even better when you are friends with your colleagues. We did a lot of socializing at my previous institution: weekend activities, board game nights (geeky but fun, really), going out for dinner, potlucks, weekly TV watching get-togethers, celebrating birthdays and other events, and don't forget the occasional after work happy hour just because we felt like it. Sure there were colleagues that chose not to participate, but the majority did participate, and despite my move to a new city and job, I still keep in contact and call them friends.

At my current institution, people like the idea of socializing outside of work, but it doesn't happen very often. Small pockets of people get together, but it's such a large system I know there are some colleagues I've never met. Recently I met a colleague that works in the same building I do and yet I'd never met or even seen him before. We are only 2 floors apart yet we never cross paths. I've been here for over eight months now and I still don't know everyone in my own building. It's disturbing and kind of sad.

So I'm making an attempt at getting people together outside of work. Admittedly, most of my decision to do this was selfish: I want to know who my colleagues are and maybe even make some new friends. To achieve this goal I've been organizing happy hours for my colleagues and whomever people want to bring along (spouses, partners, spouse-equivalents, friends, family, hangers-on, space aliens, etc., you get the idea). And by organizing I mean picking a day and sending an e-mail, no RSVP required, so I use the term organizing very loosely here. These are extremely informal, and certainly not "official" library events. Rather they are meant to be a chance to socialize, get-to-know-better, and see/meet the colleagues that work on the other side of campus in a branch library or even the ones in your own building for that matter without having the distraction of business to attend to or the structure of a meeting. We've had one happy hour, and didn't have a large turnout, but those of us that were there had an excellent time. Today is happy hour number two. Hopefully more people will attend so I can meet more of my colleagues.

My friend that's coming into town will arrive shortly before this happy hour, so I'm dragging her along. Since I'm the one sending out the e-mails about it, I better put in an appearance, no? Fortunately, SM is a good sport and willing to tag along.

I'm really looking forward to her visit. It means more city exploration, more food adventures, and generally just fun. We don't have a set schedule, only a general idea of stuff we want to do. We'll be doing some touristy stuff like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (especially since last time I tried to see it there were "no more tickets today"). As for food, it will depend on our mood. SM isn't vegetarian like my friend L, so our options are wide open. There will most likely be some cheesesteak action, and maybe some sushi. But I can guarantee that there will be a visit to the Naked Chocolate Cafe again. SM is a hot chocolate nut. So it's just necessary.

Saturday...Latin dancing!

So my friend L and I had a low key day yesterday during the day. We slept in a bit, and didn't manage to get out of the house until around 1pm, at which point we went in search of food. We ended up at an Indian place called New Delhi. Good buffet, with dessert included, and not too far from me.

Once our bellies were full, we headed out to the mall. I know this sounds like an odd thing to do with a visitor, but L wanted to search for some jeans, and my birthday gift to her was a gift card to her favorite store. And it is Borders Educator Appreciation Weekend (25 percent off your total bill for educators...a very very good deal). L needed a book to read on the plane since she finished the one she had on her way here, and I wanted to pick up some children's books for my friends' kids and a couple of Philly travel guides. We ended up at King of Prussia Mall because it had both L's store and Borders. And we spent way way to long wandering around the mall. The place is huge. Massive. To the point of overwhelming. We limited ourselves to only the part that had Borders and her store, and we still spent a good 4 hours walking around. I've never been much of a mallrat, but I can imagine that King of Prussia Mall is a mallrat's wet dream.

We finally found our way back to the car, and headed home to change, walk and feed the dog, and prepare to head out for some Latin dancing. We did some research earlier in the day to pick a place to go, and chose Cafe Habana. It's a Cuban restaurant near Rittenhouse Square in Center City. We read some reviews, and they serve dinner until around 10pm, and starting at 11pm, they turn the restaurant into a Latin club until 2am. And every review we read talked about how amazing the mojitos are. We must investigate this claim, we decided. L and I both love to dance, and Latin is a particular favorite.

So we found our way to Cafe Habana, and ordered a coupe of mojitos. Wow. Yes, the mojitos are FABULOUS. Authentic, made with fresh mint, fresh lime juice, and they don't skimp on the rum. While we sipped our drinks, we watched the dancers. Again, wow. Suddenly, we felt slightly out of our league. There were some amazing dancers. Just amazing. We both admitted that looking that good is something we dream about.

We looked around, and realized that we were definitely in the minority, being a couple of gringas, and all the other gringos and gringas were somehow connected with the Hispanics there. Well then, it's not the first time we've been in that situation and it probably won't be the last. So we continued to drink our mojitos, and watch the dancers. Eventually, we both got asked to dance, as it usually happens in Latin clubs, and had a blast. The music was great, a good mix, although sometimes the DJ switched through the songs too fast, so that just as you found your groove on one song, he was already mixing into another song. But he played a nice blend of salsa, merengue, some pop music (Shakira, my favorite, I'm a long time fan) and reggaeton. L's only complaint was the lack of bachata music, which is one of her favorites. Overall, a great night. Fabulous mojitos, good music, and some dancing.

But now it's Sunday, and our plan is to head downtown and wander for the afternoon. The only fallout from last night is that it's been a slow start to our day again, but oh well, it's not like we have any appointments to keep.

Does this work with "beer snob"?

I'm not one that usually does these quiz things, but I was curious about this one. That and today was the first day back at work after a nice long holiday break and my brain is dead. It took me a good 1 1/2 hours this morning to clean out my e-mail folders (too many listservs!) and then I had to try and remember what I was I was doing on Dec. 22nd. It was not easy. So no intelligent post today, instead, a quiz result and commentary!

You Are A Martini

You are the kind of drinker who appreciates a nice hard drink. And for you, only quality alcohol. You don't waste your time on the cheap stuff. Obviously, you're usually found with a martini in your hand. But sometimes you mix it up with a gin and tonic. And you'd never, ever consider one of those flavored martinis. They're hardly a drink!

What Alcoholic Drink Are You

Sorry, Mom, but you did raise me to appreciate quality in my life. So it's no wonder I appreciate quality in my alcohol, too, including vodka martinis made with good quality vodka, just barely dusty, and some cheese stuffed olives...yum. But rest your worries...I don't get drunk (...often...I can count the number of times on one hand...I swear...and those incidents involved tequila, which is the most evil of all alcohols and quite possibly the devil's drink of choice). I'm a social drinker, and aside from the occasional good beer (yes, I'm a beer snob) while watching tv or on a hot summer afternoon, or maybe a glass of wine with a good meal, I don't drink alone. And I'd definitely rather appreciate a good quality drink out with my friends than get drunk on cheap crap.

My only disagreement with the above result is that I do like to try different drinks for fun. And that includes flavored martinis...pomegranate ones are quite delicious. As are citrusy ones. But I don't do sweet drinks. I'd rather have a beer than some sickly sugary sweet concoction.