vampire nerds

can't wait for the next season of True Blood? why not read the books? i love that someone took the time to make this.
and check out RA for all while you're at it. she has crap-tons of horror reading lists. timely!

i'm baaaaack!

whew. i gotta say, i love the annoyed librarian. after moving back across the country and being out of the market for nearly a year, i landed a reference librarian position recently with a local county public library in south-central Indiana. this job is 1. within commuting distance, and 2. a professional position. however, it is also a part-time position garnering no benefits. and i feel really lucky to have it.

chicken soup for the vampire soul

hey, guess what?! i read a book! ok, i read four books. the first four books of the House of Night series, to be precise. i just finished the fourth book today at lunch. despite some issues i had with the books, i was determined to finish the series. mostly my problems center around the tone of the books.
early in the series the word "poop," "poopie," and all references to explosive diarrhea come up entirely too often. the main character is kind of a goody-goody and uses faux curse words. every page or so there is a sentence or two within parentheses. it is somewhat confusing as to whether she is trying to convince her audience that she is "cool" or simply talking down to us.
my other issue is that the language in the series is very patronizing to the gays. as in she will very obviously mention something about how the two gay boy characters are dating and then (in parentheses) say something like, "not that there's anything wrong with that."
really? isn't this 2009? are people still saying that? there is a lot mentioned of man purses and how the main boy character isn't a "swishy" gay boy, but another kind of gay. it comes off tired and too-clean. and full of straight white guilt.
overall the books aren't bad. they do get better as you continue on in the series. (thank gawd the main character finally loses her virginity.) and they are all a pretty quick read. so if you want a warm belly full of teen vampire love, read ahead.

cat's out of the bag

wowie. it appears that someone in the library administration from Broward County got wind of my wee little bloggie blog and my previous post has gone viral. i AM really sorry if administration getting wind of what i posted affected the union members, but Broward County has much bigger problems than little ole' me. the information didn't seem secretive or private. hell, it seemed damn obvious. so let it here be known: no more information from Broward County. i have been truncated! ha!

why I'm glad I got the F out of Broward county

I got this email today from my (former) union representative in Florida. I think I have been unintentionally left on the email list, but it keeps me in the loop. and I am a curious monkey.

With the threat of layoffs a greater possibility in the next fiscal year, I have requested and received a document from ___________ that indicates starting dates in the library system. Unfortunately, the document has a number of errors, such as using a graduate intern's start date rather than the time the intern was promoted to librarian. It is also woefully outdated. I have created an initial database that is attached to this message that shows where WR librarians currently stand in terms of seniority regarding layoffs. Basically, the more librarians that were hired after you were, the safer you are from losing your job. However, this is ONLY a ballpark figure and will be strongly affected by any individuals with lower seniority who depart the system. The percentages are based upon the elimination of librarians only, so a ten percent layoff announcement does not necessarily mean that ten percent of librarians would be included. There are many factors involved. Individuals highlighted in blue are union members at WR; the yellows are WR non-union members. This is only to give people a general idea and is not "written in stone."

We have been losing members of late due to resignations and we need to start reaching out to people to get them on board. Any ideas you have, please send to me or _______________.

so, yeah, it looks like this next round of cuts will be even more extensive and stressful than last year. I think it's probably a good thing I jumped ship. I'd have a little more money now, yeah- but I'd be waay crazier and having much less fun.

nazi zoooombies!!

omg, this is amazing! from bookshelves of doom

the cybils are out!

check out the nominations!