Reading the Future

Yesterday, after 6 years, I resigned from my job at Brooklyn Public Library. It was a very unusual morning. I was a little tense since I wanted to get it over with and was waiting for my boss to get into work. Ironically, he was late arriving which only prolonged my anxiety. My intention was to give him my resignation letter prior to a staff meeting. However, it did not work out that way and I was forced to sit in the meeting a listen to him delegate 6 months of new work to me. This only made my situation more difficult. After the meeting, I quickly followed him into his office and sat-down and placed my resignation letter on his desk. His reaction was "uh-oh"! It was a surprise to say the least.

I took a deep breath and thanked him for all the support he has given me over the past few years. The PULSE program was not only a success for the library, but also for the profession. Plus, it also put yours truly on the map. Kudos to me!

What now? I will be entering a new chapter in my life as I move forward and take a job as the Head of Reference and Information Services at the main library of Tacoma Public Library in the State of Washington. This position will put me on a slightly different career track and allow me to pursue my interests in public services and library administration. A colleague asked if I am interested in becoming a Director of a library someday? I am not sure if this is my intended career path, however, I will not rule it out someday.

Moving clearly across the country to Tacoma with Milo is exciting but also a big move. Tacoma is approximately 30 miles south of Seattle. Much of the city is experiencing a downtown gentrification. The Tacoma Arts Museum and Museum of Glass are anchors in downtown Tacoma. The arts and culture scene is bustling with activity.

So much to see and so much to do! It will be a learning curve both professionally and personally. I will be in Tacoma next week to meet the staff of the library and get my first look at the city- plus, I will be searching for a place for Milo and I to call home. Wish me luck!

i Am on the Phone

I am writing this from the line which is about 10 miles long from the Apple store in Soho! Okay- so maybe not! What the heck is this iPhone business I'm hearing about? Have you heard of this new cool phone gadget thing called an iPhone. What? You are so not cool.

Tomorrow is iPhone day and the media is having a field day. Boing Boing has done a good job covering the craziness on the web. How about I stand in line for you and you pay me a mere $250? Just check the ads on Craigslist.

Seriously folks, I am an At&T customer and I think all of us should get a free iPhone as a perk! The iPhone is a "revolutionary phone" according to AT&T.

What will be next? i Dream of Jeannie?

Cold as Ice

For those of us who are in the north/southeast, it has been very hot and humid! Power outages are beginning for the summer season and the most unusual methods of keeping cool are randomly on display.

When it gets really hot, I give Milo an ice cube to cool him down. I have been blasting the AC, but living on the top floor of an apartment building doesn't help much. Milo usually sits in front of the fan, which runs simultaneously with the AC to blow the cool air around the room.

Cooling off with water- in the ocean or in a park with sprinklers- is not an option for us city dwellers. We do have many parks with sprinklers, but walking into the sprinkler with hundreds of screaming kids does not seem fun- even though it would cool me off.

I recently saw a piece on the news about passengers stuck for 3 hours on a Delta Comair flight at the airport with no AC! A video showed the passengers fanning themselves with the emergency evacuation pamphlets. Apparently, the crew would open the door to let air in cabin every 1/2 hour!

Is that cool or what!

Lock Me Up Scotty!

I returned from the ALA conference in DC last night. Milo greeted me at the door with is big smile and wagging his tail.

I enjoyed the conference and DC a great deal. The weather was perfect and the hotel was great- with the exception of a very last minute freaky incident that brought on a slight panic attack.

I was checking out of the hotel on my way to a meeting yesterday morning and when I went to leave the hotel room, I could not get out of the room!!! For some unknown reason, the door handle would not turn to open the door. I tried and tried with no luck and called for help at the front desk. A few minutes later, the manager of the hotel showed up and took his card key to open the door and he couldn't open the door! It was not cool. He was baffled and for several minutes (which seemed forever) he tried to get the door to unlock.

I heard him call for back-up and power tools. Hearing him on the walkie-talkie only made me panic even more. I envisioned the fire department showing up and having to climb out the window onto and ladder!

Suddenly, I heard this steel crowbar prying the door open- or attempting to pry it open- with NO success. The manager was trying to be apologetic and assured me help was on the way. I was thinking the whole rescue squad was on the way at this point. Headlines- "GUEST LOCKED IN HOTEL ROOM FOR SEVERAL HOURS".

The manager was using all his power to break the door and pry the frame away from the lock. He was not having much success! We are talking steel frames here- not a wooden door.

Ten minutes went by and I was breaking a sweat. The manager finally took the crowbar and smacked the door handle on the outside so hard he broke the latch and KICKED the door open. In my usual way, I stood there and gave a slight chuckle, grabbed my bags and walked out. I was not a happy camper.

The sad thing is that I didn't make it on the news and there wasn't a picture of me climbing out the window down a firetruck ladder!

Information Overload

Prior to coming down to ALA in DC, I was speaking with several librarians who were to attend their first annual library conference. Giving my 2 cents, I gave them some tips. I tried to make it very clear that it would be overwhelming. Not only will there be so much information- in every shape or form- but there would also be about 20,000 in attendance.

Was I right? I have been here in DC since Thursday, somewhat earlier than the most. I had a few meetings and a pre-conference to attend. By Friday evening, it was obvious that librarians were taking over DC. On Saturday morning, when the exhibit floor opened, it seemed as 20,000 people mobbed the floor. The scope and size of the convention center is the equivalent to 4 football fields.

Saturday and Sunday are the main 2 days of the conference. The bulk of the programs are scheduled during these days. Unfortunately, there are so many programs of interest that it is impossible to get to see all of them. On average there are morning and afternoon sessions with scattered early morning sessions and evening sessions. In addition, there are several speaker programs that are in the evening.

After the programs, there are plenty of dinners and parties and librarians clubbing. This is a great time to network with 20,000 folks. I already ran out of business cards.

Stay tuned...

Is this for real?

I have made it down to the ALA conference in DC and I am taking a moment to post a story about the Grey's Anatomy brew haha over Isaiah Washington's comment about fellow actor- T.R. Knight. Washington was "let go" from the show because of his comments and he figures that he can let it all out. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, more fallout has hit the press. This opens the door for controvesy soon to hit the media by storm.

I will be back with more LIVE from ALA...

Now see this...

I have always been a a fan of the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) which basically replaced the VCR in our lives especially when it comes to recording shows on TV. Cable companies offer these special cable boxes for watching cable TV and recording shows. There are lots of bells and whistles these days with cable TV. You can watch a PIP (Picture in picture) or you can freeze the current program, walk the dog, and come back to where you left off.

It was only a matter of time before this would make it's way to our computers. The recent debut of Veoh TV has really put this technology and concept to a new level. Following in the footsteps of Joost, Veoh TV goes one step beyond Joost and allows users to watch TV on their computers and record the shows. A recent article in Business 2.0 magazine appropriately called this "...TiVo for the internet". I could not agree more. Plus, it's all FREE!

A user simply searches for shows on the website and downloads the shows to watch at a later date. The on-screen interface is similar to the TiVo interface. Users can also upload videos a la YouTube.

A quick scan of the site shows quite a few uploaded shows from users. A great deal of Japanese programs seem to common. You can also watch any show from the major networks. I searched for the NBC show "Medium" and was able to pull up several episodes. Several episodes of Star Trek were also available for viewing.

What does this all mean? Will we really need a TV in the future? Surely, this brings new meaning to video on demand.

Peek-a-boo I see you

I remember about 20 years ago reading about the future of the video telephone. It was really cool. It seemed to take forever to become a reality and finally it just seemed to fade from reality. Over the course of those years, we had computers and digital cameras and cell phones takeover the world.

It seems the time has come for video to video cellphones. ATT wireless (formerly Cingular) has made it a reality. This is exciting. When I discovered this news I went to the website and read all about. Of course, everyone that uses this pay for use service must be an ATT subscriber AND they must have the phones that can use this new service...a very limited list. In addition, it is only available in limited areas- but soon to expand coverage areas.


None of the folks I know use ATTwireless as their carriers, nor do any of them have the video camera capability! If I was an ultra techie, I would run to the nearest store and purchase the phone- which is exactly what ATT had in mind.

Energy efficient Google

I know that Google is doing everything to take over our lives as we know it. Who knew that they would actually expand their mega-reach to the philanthropic world? While I see nothing particularly wrong with the idea, I find it unusual that they are going to be pushing this new initiative about recharging hybrid cars. Check out this new google project called RechargeIT!

Librarians invade DC

As a librarian, I am always on the lookout for news stories about libraries or librarians. Starting this blog, I know I am joining the soon to be crowded field of librarian bloggers. A few examples of bloggers would be the LibrarianInBlack, the Reflective Librarian, Library Bytes, etc. just to name a very few. There are plenty of blogs in our profession and most of these bloggers will be at the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC beginning this Thursday. A week long conference of everything under the sun that has to do with public and academic libraries, technology, programming, design, administration, etc.

I will be attending this years' conference. My meeting schedule is overbooked, my social calendar makes me want to stay in my hotel room.

At the conference, I will be representing the PULSE program and Brooklyn Public Library- my current place of employment. On Sunday afternoon, I will be doing a poster session about the program at the CLENERT Training Showcase.

I inadvertently scheduled many of the program sessions during the showcase and realized that I would miss many of the programs I really wanted to see. As we say in the profession- C'est la vie!

It is anticipated that there will be about 20,000 librarians converging on DC this week. Plenty of interesting speakers include, Garrison Keillor, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Julie Andrews and Bill Bradley. An interesting mix for a diverse group of librarians in attendance.

It might seem that some of these celebrities, politicians, etc. might be unusual as speakers for a library conference. However, they usually surprise all of us and are often quite engaging.

I have not officially decided if I will blog at this conference. It will be my first time attempting to do so. The thought of sitting on the convention center floor and writing may be appealing but nevertheless time consuming.

In the meantime, grab a good book and enjoy!

Charlie's Angels

l to r. Paula Zahn, Campbell Brown, Amy Robach

The buzz on the TV newsfront is about to get a little interesting. As of Friday, rampant speculation that there was going to be a few face changes over at NBC and CNN, turned out to be very true. TV Newser reported that Campbell Brown was moving out of her NBC Weekend Today anchor slot and over to CNN. Meanwhile, over at CNN, it appears that Paula Zahn is being given the axe. So who is pointing at who? Does Paula Zahn know she won't have a job anymore at CNN? The New York Post wrote a blurb in Page Six about her possible departure.

Amazingly, as expected, news about this surfaced rapidly in every online news media outlet and blog over the weekend. Unfortunately, Zahn is left as the one being kicked out the door.

Truth be told, I am a fan of the Today Show. This weekend Amy Robach was co-anchoring with Lester Holt. Campbell Brown has been "off" for the past two weekends.

Amy Robach is being eyed as the replacement for Brown's Weekend Today anchor-spot. The NY Post reports that Robach "is a former beauty queen who made a career stumble a few years ago when she wore an overly sexy dress to a party with network brass". Nevertheless, I am sure in the beauty pageant she must have answered the "what do you want to be when you grow up question? Her answer was that she who wanted to become a typical blond former beauty queen turned journalist- blah blah blah. I wonder how many anchorwomen are former beauty queens?

Meanwhile, poor poor Zahn! BTW- according to the Zahn wiki, she was also a Miss Teenage American Pageant finalist in 1973. I remember Paul Zahn back in the day when she was the anchor for ABC World News. She was young and sexy back then- full of energy. She has become hard edged and cold on CNN. Not a friendly face- like most of the other anchors on the network.

Zahn has made the rounds at CBS, FOX, ABC and CNN. Where oh where will she go now? MTV? HGTV and anchor House Hunters? Maybe she will do a gig at Carnegie Hall. Little does everyone know, except die-hard fans, that Zahn is also a cellist!

Dog's best friend

We all know that a dog is a man's best friend, right? I can confirm this statement with Milo and with all the attention he has gotten being a part of my life- my best friend! A recent blurb out of India has put a slight twist on that very fact. It seems that we can also say that a dog is a monkey's best friend.

It is not uncommon to see images of dogs and cats hanging out at the local bar or even taking a snooze. But what about creatures of all kinds hanging out together and talking? A new show imported from the UK and "americanized" made it's debut recently on CBS called Creature Comforts. For those of you are fans of Wallace and Gromit, this will be a welcome addition to the family.

The show's concept is brilliant- ordinary folks from all over the country are tapped as the voices of the characters in the show. Whether from Brooklyn or South Dakota, the producers have selected the most interesting real-life character voices. A recent piece on NPR's Studio 360 spoke with the show's producer, Lu Olkowski, about recruiting her parent's voices for the show.

Not in this Reality

This morning, I heard a segment on BBC's World Service radio program which was about the winner of the tv show The Apprentice. It caught me off guard since I was not aware that our very own Donald Trump mega-hit version was also spun-off and has become a very popular UK program. The host interviewed a sociologist who discussed why Sir Alan Sugar made the decision to hire Simon Ambrose. The sociologist discussed why the selection was such a shock to the viewers, media and even to the chosen one- who seemed to be caught off guard.

I have never been a fan of reality television shows. Occasionally, a few come along that peek my interest. However, very few. One of my favorite reality shows is The Amazing Race. But, I am not sure that I would consider that a true reality show? It is almost like a sporting program or tri-athalon spread out over several weeks. Sure, we get to see a camera in everyone's face and watch how the couples deal with unbearable situations. I am beginning to think alot of these little vignettes are staged for dramatic or is traumatic purposes?

Due to peer pressure, I did begin to watch Project Runway and the cooking equivalent which is Top Chef- a popular show that has returned for yet another season of food fighting. There are so many types of reality shows. For those of us who watched the first few seasons of The Real World on MTV, this was reality tv. A bunch of young adults cooped up in a house somewhere on the planet and forced to deal with each other's crap. How real can you get?

Take that show and multiply it over and over, add a few spices and you get a such a mess of spin-offs. Is it Real World #27 this year? It was the Amazing Race 11- does that mean 1 per year? There is a saying "if you build it, they will come" or is it "if you have a hit reality show, do it again and again"?

I could list all the different types of reality shows, but I came up with a better idea by pointing you to the Wiki of reality television programs! Are some on the list considered reality programs? What is reality? According to Webster's the definition of reality is:

1: the quality or state of being real2 a (1): a real event, entity, or state of affairs (2): the totality of real things and events b: something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily3: television programming that features videos of actual occurrences (as a police chase, stunt, or natural disaster) — often used attributively
— in reality : in actual fact

As we see, even the dictionary makes the case for reality TV. Even though it would be unusual to see a reality tv show based on a natural disaster on the FOX Network with Paula Abdul as the host?

Had enough of reality TV? Or are you looking for more more more? How about a show about 6 men who spend several weeks wooing a sexy woman? Sound good? Sorry, that show is already on the list of possible shows that will make even Milo raise an eyebrow.

24 Hours Later

I realize that for the past 24 hours + 1 year ago, I have been trying to get this blog up and running. Well, here it is in beta form-finally! I shouldn't really say beta. I spent a great deal of time tweaking the format. Unfortunately, I kept changing my mind and had to go back and re-do everything over and over again. Some of the features you see on this blog may or may not work...this can be for a number of reasons. Either the HTML code is corrupt or the template I am using and edited doesn't recognize the commands. Is this getting to technical for you?

I tried to make this blog simple and use other blogs as templates. WNYC's program ON THE MEDIA has a simple blog they created for a special segment. Other blogs can be pretty intense or slightly media heavy- is one way of calling it. My dear friend Drew Pisarra writes a weekly blog for New York Magazine online about the FOX show "So You Think You Can Dance". Both of these blogs are worlds apart as far as content, purpose and audience.

There are blogs about blogs! We have the Anderson Cooper 360 Blog and we also have All Things Anderson blog. Wait did I also mention Anderson Cooper 360 Review blog? What about the real dirt about Anderson Cooper in this blog?

So what was I thinking? What does Milo think about this blog business anyway? This is a great learning experience for me. Will it just fade away and will I get tired of it? Will anyone post to this blog? Can you spell RSS?

In many professions, there is a need to keep up with all the changes around us. Wiki's, myspace, blogs, social networks like Second Life are examples of those changes. I need to get up to speed. A 10 year old at the library recently explained to me how to fix a MySpace page template!



I hope, as best as I can through this blog, to bring you along and discuss issues on a variety of topics and provide a place for you to talk back. Ok- so how does Milo fit into this? He is sitting right here dictating this posting!

Testing 123

I am trying to get the ball rolling with this blog! I am spending way to much time (over a year) trying to figure things out and it is time consuming. I have been getting ideas from David Lee King's blog and with Helen Blowers' Library 2.0. blog. Both are library technical staff at various librariesI even stumbled upon a great blog called Dummies Guide to Blogger I realize it gets easier with time- however, I need that time now.