librarygrrrl.net

I’m headed up to Maine tomorrow for what is apparently an annual gathering of wild revelry and lobster-gorging. What fun! Amy’s dad throws the party every year for his business associates and the kids have been inviting their friends to join in the fun for many years. Since I only met Amy this year, this is my first Lobster Bake. Wish me luck.

Beast is going to the kennel. Boo hiss. At least I’ll have them clip her nails - it’s been entirely too long.

Head on over to my fotolog for some hilarious pictures of my mom’s extended family this past July. We all dressed up in funny gear as part of the big “Bumps Blast 2004″, a big family party in memory of my grandfather, who passed away a couple of years ago.

That’s me with Bumps, photo taken at the Dome, many years ago at Christmas. I miss him.

Lately I’ve gotten sucked into a few web sites relating to reading and books.

Today, I caught my first-ever Bookcrossing book! It was called Sharks, and I caught it at the REI store in Conshohocken, PA. I’m highly amused by this, and now need to think of someplace really cool to release it. Ideas, anyone?

The other site I’m getting into is called Bibliophil. Basically, it’s a place to keep track of all the books you own, that you’ve read, or that you want to read. If you go in there, be sure to add me as a buddy. I am, not surprisingly, librarygrrrl. You can see my library here. Obviously, that’s not all the books I’ve ever read, but those are some of the books that first come to mind when I do a project like this. I’m debating the merits of a web-based system of shared organization like this with a local system, dependent on software (like Endnote) that is much more powerful and accurate, but also lacks a lot of the community aspects and “added information” aspects that Bibliophil has (like the buddy system and the importing of book jacket images into the list.) I do like the fact that I can export the Bibliophil file to Excel.

Does anyone use a similar web-based tool for organizing your library? I’ve tried Biblioexpress before, but was never able to get it to save notes or images within my citation libraries. That was supremely annoying. I never reinstalled it, although that may have been the best solution. Bibliographix seems interesting, too.

Maggie is skeptical of all the programs, and isn’t sure which one will work best. Tell her (and me!) which free stuff YOU like best and why, okay now?

Now it’s bedtime for this librarygrrrl and her little dog. We both hope that you sleep very well.

Do you ever get horrid songs stuck in your head? And they won’t go away?

Jack Wagner. “All I Need.”
Little River Band. “Lady.”
Huey Lewis and the News. “Do You Believe In Love?”
ANYTHING by Neil Diamond.

Welcome to my head lately. Apparently I’m stuck in the 80s. Do any songs from the 70s or the 90s get stuck in your head? (Note: they must be horrid to qualify.) Do drop me a note if you can think of any.

In other news, my mouse problem has returned, with a vengeance. Yesterday I got 10 traps at Gnome Depot. The guy at the checkout lane was joking with me a bit about it, and suggested I get a cat. I gave him my standard disclaimer of “the dog would eat a cat, and I’m allergic.” He laughed, told me that I should train the dog to chase mice. What a funny concept - my little beast thinks mice are totally not worth bothering. A good chipmunk, hedgehog, a woodchuck, some squirrels, even pigeons… these are the critters she wants to destroy. Not mice. They are insignificant.

Unless they’re living in your kitchen. Then it’s WAR. Going on vacation was a bad idea. I mean, at least as it concerns the mouse battle. Vacation was really good otherwise. And with that, I’m off to set traps.

Well, my road trip to and from Minnesota (where I’ve been for the past 2 weeks) was really great. I stopped in Ann Arbor twice - once on the way there, once on the way back - to see my brother, his partner, and my niece. I stopped in Evanston twice - once on the way there, once on the way back - to see my friend Beth. I stopped in Madison on the way there to have a late lunch with my friend Kristin. I saw all sorts of friends in Minnesota - Lloyd, Geordie, Amy, Karen - and lots of family too. I spent the past weekend up at the family cabin in Aitkin, eating good food and hanging with my mom’s relatives.

And the dog was with me for all of it.

Now I’m home, I’m tired, and I need to go grocery shopping. I’m headed out here soon to do just that. And I’ll update later on this evening, when I’m all unpacked, laundered, and fed. Ta!