Spring has finally sprung this year

So we’re finally getting nice weather again. It’s about time! Horrendous rain (and I heard there was even some sleet today) aside, it’s finally getting into the 60s (Farenheit) and above on a regular basis. Now I can retire my favorite winter jacket, which is pretty worn out after four seasons with me (I got it second-hand) and fairly recent TLC from a certain pup who has a thing about long sleeves. Hopefully the warm(er) weather will bring other good things, like maybe a job offer … I’m still hunting for that Something Better, but I honeslt haven’t been finding a plethora of job openings that meet my skills and qualifications.

Congratulations to Kate Middleton and Prince William on their marriage. I know it’s going to be all sorts of posh (and probably nothing like that amusing T-Mobile commercial), but I have no plans to tune in. My TV will remain unplugged as it’s been for the past few months, and I’ll probably do some job-hunting before heading over to a local library to see about volunteering with them. Then I’m meeting up with a friend so we can surf YouTube for clips of German musicals before going to a Rockapella concert. If you haven’t heard of Rockapella, they’re a great all-male acapella group that’s been around for at least 20 years. They sang the theme song for and on the kid’s game show “Where In the World Is Carmen SanDiego?” back in the early- to mid-1990s. I understand they’ve had a few changes in the roster since that show went off the air, but they still sound great. Front-row seats, baby!

To start with something amusing …

Remember that Volkswagen commercial from this year’s Superbowl? You know – the one with mini Darth Vader getting frustrated with his apparent inability to use the Force? There is now an adaptation of that commercial floating around to advertise Marvel Comics’ upcoming Thor movie. I haven’t been watching TV recently, and I’m probably going to pass on Thor (much as I’m a fan of Natalie Portman and Kenneth Branagh), but I got a good laugh when I saw this ad courtesy of a friend’s post on Facebook. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

Speaking of Facebook and the posting of videos, I’m a member of a group called I Love Libraries. One of the things they posted today is an inspiring video. Luis Soriano of La Gloria, Colombia, has been a teacher for at least ten years. His area is very rural, but he’s managed to set up and keep running his own version of a bookmobile: Biblioburro! Check out the video. Isn’t YouTube great? 

On the job front, it’s the same as usual: I’ve applied for more jobs, and there’s nothing much else to report. I signed up with a local temp agency recently, and they called me yesterday to say they might be able to get me a receptionist-type gig with an HVAC-ish company a few towns over. I’ll have to wait and see about that. I also contacted the director of a local library that I can get to by bus to see if they need any volunteers. She invited me to come visit, and I’ll try to do so on Saturday if the weather isn’t too horrendous.

Thank you, Spider Robinson

I’d like to start this week’s post with a recent article posted on CNN.com: Librarians: Masters of the info universe. It lists some awesome facts about the profession, including naming a few famous politicians who have worked in libraries. My favorite tidbit is probably the quote from Spider Robinson’s book The Callahan Touch: “Librarians are the secret masters of the universe. They control information. Never piss one off.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/04/12/librarians.masters.of.universe/index.html?hpt=Sbin

In other news, the job hunt still continues. My recent applications include openings with CUNY (City University of New York), Long Island University, and the Department of State. I’ll do more searching this weekend, and hopefully something good will pop out at me. I’m still trying to find that library (or other awesome organization) that desperately needs me.

Same old, same old

Nothing new or exciting to report for yet another week. I went to a resume workshop today and got some tips that will hopefully make my CV more noteworty/memorable and such. I’ll be updating it tonight and sending it out to a few more potential employers. The world of retail continues to be a joy (insert sarcastic eye-rolling here) as my one-year anniversary in my current position comes up this Saturday. They claim to like and appreciate me, and hopefully they’ll show it by materializing a raise for me. I got the company 401(k) information packet in the mail earlier this week, so who knows?

Some of you may remember my ranting last year over the editing (or lack thereof) in Travis Taylor’s books One Day on Mars and The Tau Ceti Agenda, though there was a bit of improvement in the second book. I’ve got the third book in the trilogy (One Good Soldier) on my shelf now, and I’m half dreading and half looking forward to playing Find The Typos as I read it. I bring this up because I’m playing a similar game with the paperback I’m currently reading on the bus: Eric Flint and David Drake’s The Oblique Approach, the first book in their co-authored Belisarius/Dance of Time series. I’m enjoying the story very much, but I’m finding it over-punctuated. There are commas where I personally wouldn’t think to use them, and certain uses of parentheses and sentence breaks are making me twitch vaguely. ::sigh:: If only I could figure out how to become a copyeditor at Baen …