But I am excited

because I finally figured out what my MySpace password was so that I can login from a computer other than our desktop (which had it saved). Phew - a load off my mind right there.

Just in case you were wondering

I have finally been able to get myself registered for my class that starts 2 weeks. I've even supposedly got email (I can't check until I reset my password, and I can't reset my password because I already tried to do it today, and you can only do it once in a 24 hour period). Now all I have to do is somehow get my login for the "Moodle" (who on earth came up with that) so that I can get to my syllabus and find out what on earth I'm supposed to read. For all of you geniuses out there who are thinking, "why doesn't she just call/email the professor?" Here's the answer: I can't get to the directory without a login, and I tried email, but my email was returned as undeliverable! ARgh. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow.......

What?

I've started working 40 hours a week, and I'm tired. Andy always says that normal people work 40 hours a week and live through their days, but my job isn't for normal people. Normal people aren't "on" 40 hours a week working with all kinds of people, finding everything, and answering every conceivable question. Working in a children's dept at a library requires a special amount of energy that can really drain you. In any case, I'm working 40 hours a week for 2 reasons. The first is that I will be on "vacation" while I'm at U of I. Of course, I won't actually have much vacation time, since I don't really earn much, so I'm working to make up the hours lost (and there's a lot to do around here with the library under construction and all). Then, because the IT person left, I'm taking up some of the slack - anyone who knows me now would be quite surprised to learn about this, but I used to be a computer science major, so I do know a few things about computers. In any case, that makes 40 hours. We see a lot of kids in a day.

As far as the title of this post goes, though, it has to do with adults. I expect a lot of questions from kids, but it seems that some adults need a lot of handholding. The adult fiction collection has been moved to our floor because of the construction, so we get a lot of really confused adults looking for their books in the "Young Adult" fiction section. It has "Adult" in the title, so I can see where they could get confused. (Young adult is library speak for teenagers, by the way.) Anyway, so I've had my fair share of adults needing extra special attention lately, including one little old lady who handed me a book from the library's booksale shelves and asked me to find it for her. A 5 year old probably doesn't know what a card catalog is, but I'm pretty sure this lady did. Then there was the man who wanted to know where the microfilm was. I showed him. Then he said, "Hinsdale Doings?" (the name of a local newspaper). Just that. No, "Could you please show me the Hinsdale Doings?" Oh well. At least the kids are polite.

aaaaaaahhhhh

Did you ever feel as if you are unable to keep up with everything? That's how I feel right now... I've been trying to set up all of my stuff for U of I, but I can't register for my class because registration for my class appears to be closed - but I couldn't register earlier because they didn't admit me on time, so I didn't have my login. I also can't login to the online course information because I'm not in the class yet, so the unknown amount of reading I have to do before July 12 when my class starts remains unknown. Panic has definitely set it. RRRRR

Cheese curd and Ferrara Pan

While eating cheese curd and some Ferrara Pan Orangeheads (not at the same time), I'm reminded of the regional favorites we've come to love in each of the places we've lived. Here are some of my favorites in no particular order:
1. Krispy Kreme - granted, you can get these in a lot of places, but we lived down the road from one of the first stores when we lived in Raleigh - or maybe it's the first? James, my Raleigh history expert, help me out here!
2. Cheese curd - it squeaks - need I say more?
3. Ferrara Pan Orangeheads, Lemonheads, Grapeheads, Cherryheads, Apppleheads, etc. Not only does the factory send heavenly scents of atomic fireballs and bubble gum out into the air, but they make darn good candy. I wish they gave factory tours.
4. Isaac's - hands down, the best sandwich place in the universe and a Central Pennsylvania legend
5. Sheetz - another Pennsylvania discovery that is slowly spreading. Of course, they didn't bring them to Raleigh until about 2 months before we moved away.
6. The Golden Lamb - once you've had one of their tacos, you can never eat another taco without thinking that it's gross because it's not from the Golden Lamb. I think they only have 3 employees, and they aren't open regular hours, but when they are, I'm there.
7. Maple Syrup - no self respecting Vermonter would leave this off her list - and sugar on snow, even if Andy thinks it's a rip off to take the snow inside in a bowl.
8. Doughnuts from the farmer's market - doesn't matter which organization is making them each week, fresh doughnuts are a must have. Why does Mozilla think that I'm spelling doughnut incorrectly, but "donut" is ok - has donut become the accepted spelling?!
9. Chick-fil-a - any restaurant that tries to capture the grease inside its food must taste good. Another Raleigh discovery. My arteries are probably thanking me for moving out of range.
10. Shanghai Garden - the Chinese restaurant near my parents house - quite possibly the best fried rice and won ton soup you will ever eat.

That's 10 - I'm sure there are more. Know this, though - if you live by one of these places, I'll want to eat there if I ever come to visit :)

Khloe?

Andy and I like to make fun of all the weird names kids are getting these days, so whenever we come across a particularly odd one, we share it with each other. Working at a library, I come in contact with a lot of odd names. Khloe is just one example. Want to know how you know you gave your kid a weird name? He or she immediately starts spelling it after telling you what it is. When they have to do this, you should know that you have screwed up your child for life. I should know - I had to spell my maiden name, and now I have to spell my married name - that's bad enough, and not really any parent's fault, since last names aren't really chosen. But imagine having to spell both. ALL THE TIME, whenever you do ANYTHING. Now there are some obvious examples, like Catherine, Kathryn, etc. that are traditional, but could probably be avoided. However, if you are contemplating naming your child a "traditional" name, but spelling it strangely, such as, well, I can't think of one right now, but in any case, that's just mean. People are going to start spelling it one way, then have to change it all around, and sometimes they won't even believe that it's spelled the nontraditional way. Save your child years of annoyance and give them a name that actually exists, can be spelled without too much difficulty, and doesn't make everyone look at them funny. And thanks, mom, for following the rules - most people can spell my name.

Want a Smart car?

No, not one with a brain, or one resembling KITT from Knight Rider, but a Smart Car... Andy just called me and said, "I just saw a Smart car driving on the Eisenhower." For those of you who haven't been to Europe since before 1998 (or ever), here's a Smart car:

They're smaller than a MINI (our 2004 MINI is 11.9 feet long, 5.54 feet wide, and 4.66 feet tall, whereas the Smart car is 8.8 feet long, 5.1 feet wide, and 5.1 feet tall).

One of the dealers here in Chicagoland lists them for $27,900, which is far more than I'm willing to pay, even for a cute little car that gets about 50mpg city. However, the cars available now are just modified versions of the ones sold in Europe. Eventually, according to this 2004 MSNBC article, they are going to sell them in the US. I won't hold my breath, but if gas prices go higher, maybe we'll see them.

Welcome to a new blogger

My friend Heather from LUC has a blog. She's been added to the list, in case you're interested :)

If you have a yappy dog

Please keep your windows closed so the rest of us don't have to listen to it 24/7. I like dogs and all, but this is getting ridiculous. Thank you.

A special welcome from Vermont

I'm In!

After a month of wringing my hands trying to figure out what the deal is, I finally got notification from U of I that they will let me in to their program. I just have to say that the registrar at Messiah was a big help in this whole ordeal. If she hadn't been kind enough to send out another copy of my transcript ASAP, the decision might have been delayed further. So, a happy ending to a very complicated story. What a relief.