NOW they come!

Last week, I found this near approximation of a great bike becoming available:



This week, the real thing is appearing:



I've been waiting for these a long time. And remember folks, it was my idea to import them.

A rare workday post.

This just came over the digital transom, and I think it's fantastic.

Obviously, I am the only person left in the universe (well, the blogosphere anyway) that has any qualms about blogging from the office, because it took FOREVER to log in just now. I have an excuse: I'm on the reference desk.

Dance monkies, dance.

YouTube social lubrication

Went to a small party last night that could have been an advertisement for the net society.

A good portion of the party was spent gathered around a widescreen monitor in the living room (set up with a cordless keyboard and mouse) looking for karaoke videos on youtube. However they also kept getting distracted by odd Japanese TV show clips, kittens-falling-off-counters videos, and other wacky stuff. Granted, other stuff was going on (including Chinese caligraphy scrabble!), but I was fascinated by the collective web surfing. Who says the Internet will lead to social isolation?

EPA libraries closing.

While the news is old (to me and my librarian friends, anyway), it probably bears repeating one more time that the Environmental Protection Agency is closing many (all?) of its regional libraries.

I'm a little surprised (but pleased) to see that even Salon.com is picking up on the story. Maybe I've become thick-skinned to announcements of budget cuts and reduced services in libraries. In my 15 years in libraries, it just seems like business as usual.