Category Archives: Local Holdings

Back when I first bought this domain, I picked it because it was absolutely the most arrogant sounding dot-comish name I could think of at the time. I even had some vague fantasies of making a little bit of money off the site but I decided very early on, I just wasn’t that interested. I had a job that I loved (and I still do), so anything I ever did with this was going to be strictly on the side. I have run advertsing now and then and plan to do so again someday, but I assure you it has yet to come close to covering the amount I have paid for hosting the site. I was struck by that tonight reading the interplay between Rogers Cadenhead and Dave Winer. Unlike someone like Todd Cochrane, I have never made any money off RSS. Personally, I think that has been an advantage in following the various syndication controversies. Honestly, I have never thought that IBM has any plans to profit, either. At least thus far no one has many any accusations against Jenny Levine. The most unfortunate thing about the whole Atom split was that while I think it was ultimately a good thing because we ended up with a much more useful standard, it probably wouldn’t have happened at all if Dave had been able to work with the people who wanted to work with him. And I wonder how much we have all lost because of that. I have to admit that tonight I am definitely in agreement with Shelley Powers.

The Military Sea Services Museum, in Sebring, Florida, is the only museum in the U.S. to honor the Military Sea Services (The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard). Not long after the building originally opened, it was damaged by Hurricane Jeanne and required some $100,000 worth of repair. Their website is being launched today. I have helped them out from time to time in getting their library organized. I thought it might be nice if I could if I could their website a little notice.

I haven’t made any design changes for a while and I was having a lot of site issues due to changes in Textpattern over the last eight months. So when I saw Hemingway, I knew it was the perfect choice for this year. I still have some customization to do, and some things I still want to fix, but at least I have made a start. Expect a lot more posting around here over the next few months.

It turned out that the storm passed far enough south of us that we got off relatively light (although there were still some areas of the county that experience some power outages). And since it was relatively quick, I actually arrived home a mere 24 hours after I originally left. And due to the cold front that moved in just as the storm passed, we went straight from summer to winter in the course of a hour. Of course, I only got about 3 hours of sleep during that time period so I wasn’t exactly energized by the time I got here. Today, though, we are back at work and it should hopefully be what passes for a normal day around here. Hopefully, everyone south of us who were much more greatly affected (like my brother and his wife) will be able to say the same as well very soon.

We won’t be doing much preparing for the future today at my library, though. Due to the fact that we are just slightly north of the path of the latest hurricane to come our way. Between Charlie, Frances, and Jeanne last year, this is starting to become an unwelcome trend. Beginning at 3:00 this afternoon, the library staff will be dispersing county-wide in order to operate hurricane shelters at various schools around the county for what is predicted to be around 24 hours or so. Then we will be picking up the pieces. I will try and post an update here when I can get back online. That may be tomorrow, or if power outages occur (a total of twelve days at my home last year), sometime after that.

I haven’t been blogging much lately. Partly it is just one of those periods where I get into a sort of funk. It is beginning to life, though, or I wouldn’t even have been able to write this. But it is also a change in my job duties. Over the past few weeks, due to an anticipated shortfall in funding at our Cooperative level, I have become a Reference/Cataloging Librarian once again. Primarlily, I will doing non-fiction, but it will be for our entire county, rather than solely for our library. And I have been doing a smattering of fiction as well. It has also meant relocating to a new desk. So lots of exciting changes, but also time-consuming as well. I still have lots of things I want to write about, so hopefully this post will be just the first of many this month.

On a personal level last year, even when I went days without power and internet access at home due to the Hurricanes, I was glad to know that my websites were all secure elsewhere. This time, things are different.
bq.With one of history’s most powerful hurricanes bearing down on the Houston/Galveston area, EV1Servers is taking steps to protect the more than 1 million web sites hosted in its Houston data centers. CEO Robert Marsh says the company has more than 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel on site, and has procured an extra generator in case grid power is unavailable for an extended period. “We anticipate that the coming storm will have no impact on our operations,” Marsh said in a message to customers. “However, we are prepared to deal with any eventuality.” – Rich Miller But there are other things to worry about right now.
bq.Galveston County is under a mandatory evacuation order starting today, and area schools are closed for the remainder of the week. So, I’ll very likely not post anything until Monday. We will be leaving for San Antonio later today. – David Bigwood We spent the night in San Antonio on our way to California last April. I hope everyone will take the necessary precautions to make it through the next few days.

bq.”Half-Blood Prince” is much more focused and streamlined. Plus, Harry isn’t so teen angsty anymore, so he doesn’t speak IN CAPITAL LETTERS any more, which is quite a relief. It’s restored my faith in the series and made me painfully eager for the final book. But why are we discussing this at Americablog? As a number of people have pointed out, it’s very much a post 9-11 (and sadly, post 7-7) book, with the government clamping down on rights, people suspicious of one another and fear everywhere. – Michael Glitz Actually, I thought all the 9/11 references were contained in “Order of the Phoenix.” A monstrously evil mastermind is working behind the scenes and the governments that could do something, not only willfully ignore, but actively oppose all efforts. And I don’t see how anyone could miss that Dolores Umbridge is but a thinly-disguised Jamie Gorelick? I may write my own review someday, but it will be a while before I get around to it. Suffice it to say, if you haven’t read all 6 books thus far, what are you waiting for?

I never ever thought humble little me would have a photograph spotlighted on the Flickr Blog. I feel so honored. Thanks to Steven because that is where I find out about it. Meanwhile, over at Yahoo!, my brother’s Comic Book Conventions.com is pretty featured as well.

I created a new LIS-related site this week, LISPodcasts.com. I am hoping that it will inspire library-related podcasts to reach a new high. If you do one and are feeling left out, don’t hesitate to let me know. If you are thinking of starting one, now is the perfect time. Thanks to Blake Carver and Greg Schwartz for their encouragement and advice.