Same again, as usual …

I’ve kept looking on the job boards, as always. And as always, while there are jobs being posted, most of them don’t fit my skill set and/or personal requirements. Many of them require experience, coursework and/or skills that I don’t posess at this time. Others look like things I could enjoy and grow in, but the fact that they are part-time would not justify my moving out-of-state right now, even if I were to gain and ace an interview. I’ll just have to keep searching, like all my fellow librarian job-hunters. I believe I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I figure there’s a library out there that desperately needs me, we just haven’t found each other yet.

This week’s news of interest includes fossils in California, a popular (mainly) children’s/young adult author, another famously out-of-this world author, and zombies on campus. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that a utility company building a new station in California unearthed an assortment of fossils that could shed light on the evolution of mammals, definitely in North America and possibly worldwide. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fossil_find

Dubuque, Iowa’s Telegraph Herald published an article about a talk given by Gary Paulsen, author of Hatchet, Dogsong, and many other great books. I remember reading and enjoying Hatchet years ago, and the movie was pretty decent from what I remember. Anyway, Mr. Paulsen stated that if he hadn’t had a chance encounter with a librarian who encouraged him to read as a teenager, he wouldn’t have become who he is today. http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=296301

In case all you Discworld fans out there hadn’t heard, Terry Pratchett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II last year as part of her New Years’ Honours. An online Australian news service posted an article detailing how Sir Terry was so thrilled to be a knight, he gathered steel (including some meteorite chunks) and proceeded with expert help to forge his own sword. There’s a link in the article to one of Sir Terry’s blog posts that includes a photo of the sword – I think it would do one of his dwarfs proud. http://www.news.com.au/technology/terry-pratchett-creates-a-sword-with-meteorites/story-e6frfro0-1225926584339

I mentioned zombies on campus. I’m not referring to sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated students, though I’ve been in that position often enough to willingly believe in that type of zombification. The BBC reports in its US & Canada section that the University of Baltimore is going to be offering “Zombie Studies.” Oh, how I wish that class, or something like it, had been available when I was an undergrad! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11219411

In honor of “Zombies 101,” this week’s word is Pall: a noun meaning a cloth coffin-cover, a coffin itself, a general covering, or something contributing to gloominess. Discworld’s Igor clan specializes in producing pall-like atmospheres for their employers. If you receive an Igor in a crate, beware – you, too, could be a mad scientist!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I’d like to start out by wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, Happy Hannukah to the latke-lovers, Happy Solstice if that’s your thing, and Happy New Year to all.

There haven’t been any huge developments in the Great Job Hunt so far. I believe I’ve mentioned a job that I interviewd for in Peekskill, NY, a few weeks ago – I got a letter today saying they chose someone else to fill the position. I know I probably don’t have everything they were looking for in terms of that position, though I thought the interview went well at the time. My dad pointed out that with the current job market and state of the economy (not to mention the large-ish pool of applicants the Director mentioned), they probably found someone who had more experience working with teens and programming and stuff than I do. I’ll get there eventually – there has to be a library out there that wants to hire a nuttly li’l book nerd like me, I just need to keep plugging until I find them. Maybe the call I got about a Library Assistant job from a third-party career center will work out. The person I talked to said they’ll forward my information to a yet-to-be-revealed institution who will contact me if they think my qualifications match up for the position.

Now I think it’s time to talk about something I find more fun to discuss than the fact that the continuing job hunt is just that – continuing. Anyway, on to books!  I started reading books by David Weber a month or two ago. I’ve read and enjoyed the first three books in the Empire of Man/Prince Roger series that he co-authored with John Ringo, but Mutineer’s Moon was the first of Weber’s solo books that I read. Mutineer’s Moon plays a bit off of the theory that humans came (or were brought) to Earth from elsewhere, and I liked it enough to get the second and third books from the trilogy. I’ll get to them eventually, and I’ve also started exploring Weber’s Honor Harrington series. I’ve known of Ms. Harrington for a couple years now, but I only recently got a copy of the first book (On Basilisk Station). It’s my current walking-around book, which I’m reading on the bus and during breaks and such.

I’m also finally getting to Terry Pratchett’s book Nation. It’s historical fiction of a sort, set in our universe (a bit of a rarity from the creator of Discworld), and geared towards the YA crowd. My mom got a copy on my recommendation, read and enjoyed it, and passed it on to me. I’ve been trying to get her to read Pratchett for a while now, so finally success! I love sharing good books. I also lent my DVD copies of the live-action movies of Pratchett’s Hogfather and Color of Magic to a new friend who is also a fan of Discworld. She hadn’t heard about the movies, or that Pratchett had released Unseen Academicals, so it was a pleasant surprise for her. Ook!