August Highlights

It's been a busy month. I'm taking it easy at work and spending some time planning, but other than that life has been hectic. At the beginning of the month I went to New England for Kim and Richard's wedding. This was a good kind of hectic. I couldn't be happier, and it was wonderful to be with my family and see so many friends.


Just after I got back from Maine, I decided to move to an new apartment with a roommate. I packed up my boxes, took down my pictures, and here I am in my new apartment. Photos to be posted when the apartment looks a little more settled.

Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm trying ot embrace the coming of another year.

Survival

This summer has been filled with a lot of work. A work filled summer is not something I'm used to. Summer reading has taken a lot out of me. But I succeeded. Activities included a Harry Potter Birthday Party, a Blues Conecrt, puppets, a turtle race, lawn games and much, much more. I have learned many lessons in the process mostly while scrubbing stains out of the carpet. This Jackson Polluck style painting created by library regulars is a symbol of my success. I'm going to frame it. It's called "Survival."

Support Your Local Library

I'm posting this mostly for myself. The quotes discuss the necessity of libraries and their value in building local economies. If you don't care, I will not offended, if you don't read this post. But do remember that libraries (particularly those that are well funded) will always have an important, positive impact on every community.

From the article: Libraries at the Heart of Our Communities by Wayne Senville

“There’s been a dramatic change in the mission of libraries across the country. No longer just static repositories of books and reference materials, libraries are increasingly serving as the hub of their communities, providing a broad range of services and activities. They are also becoming important "economic engines" of downtowns and neighborhood districts."

“To put library visits in perspective, consider that in 2007 the attendance at major league baseball games was 81 million and NFL football, 22 million – add in NCAA men’s and women’s basketball (43 million) and football (49 million) and the total is less than 15 percent the number of visits to public libraries.”

Quiet

I finally had a chance to go to the temple today. We battled the traffic to Santa Monica Blvd. and made it to the temple.
As I walked in the door and was greeted by the friendly workers, I instantly appreciated the quiet. Even before the door closed out the sounds of the busy street below, it was much more still than the world. Today, I am grateful for the temple and a place that is truly quiet.

RELAX!

The past three weeks have been crazy! With programs everyday, work has been nonstop. I've gone out of town two weekends in a row. Everyone around me has noticed that I am in need of some R&R. One of my coworkers will look at me and immediately say "Relax!" It is her one word mantra to me.

Apparently, others have the same advice. After church, I was enjoying Linger Longer with my ward. I dropped my sandwich and chips on the ground. After disposing of my sandwich remains and cleaning my hands, I turned around. On the counter behind me were huge letters spelling out "RELAX." I bursted out in laughter. No one knew what was funny. I certainly learned something at church today.

"Don't You Know There's a Recession!"

It was Tuesday morning. I was experiencing the typical beginning of the week dread during my morning commute on the LA Metro bus. I proceeded to plunk my quarters into that tall box by the driver and found my seat near the back door. The ride really isn't that bad as long as everything is on time, and the other passengers keep to themselves.

Then, there she was - the woman who refused to pay. She loudly announced that she did not have any quarters to plunk into the machine, coughed, then annoyed the driver so much, he allowed her to move on back. She dragged her large laundry bag down the aisle, the whole time justifying her lack of funds saying "Don't you know there's a recession." She repeated it and repeated it and repeated it as if that was a good reason. A lump of indignation formed in the bottom of my stomach. I imagine the dozen of us who paid fairly didn't feel much sympathy. None of us carry around our endless supplies of bus fare.

Nevertheless, I've decided to follow this woman's example. I'm going to go to the grocery store and find all the essentials including gummi worms and frozen taquitos. When the checker tells me that I owe $237.13, I will declare "Don't you know there's a recession!" and run out with my armfulls of groceries. Oh wait ... that's stealing!

The Good, the Bad, and the Scaly

This week has been an unusual mix of the wonderful and the horrible. On Monday, I enjoyed watching the bright red sun fall below the clouds at the beach. The water reflecting the dark blue of the sky. That was followed by a few sleepless nights leading up to the beginning of my busiest time at work. All of that apprehension turned to triumph when everything was successful. Triumph quickly turned to exhaustion as a few other unusual things happened. Luckily my job has a few perks. This week it was putting a lizard to sleep. Unfortunatley I didn't get to keep the dollar bill.