Final Thoughts Part 1

It's hard to believe that D-DAY (D for departure) is literally this Friday! Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day taking everything that has not been packed or shipped and placing it out in my living room to take inventory. What was I thinking?

As I look around, I realize I still have more to pack and ship. In some cases, it might be easier to throw everything into a box and ship it out- and label the box "junk"!

These last few days, I have been doing a few things that represent the best of the neighborhood! Places that became a staple for me while I lived here for the past few years. Last night, I ate from my favorite Chinese take-out restaurant Xing Wong. I will be having dinner with friends this evening at Cebu- another local restaurant. I will stop into Rocco's Pizzeria around the corner and order my 2 slices and 5 garlic knots and say my farewell to the brothers that have been running the family owned business.

Bay Ridge has been a great neighborhood. Unlike many neighborhoods, where know one will give you the time of day, Bay Ridge has a homey neighborhood feel. Everyone is friendly and you know your neighbors. You see the same folks with dogs in the parks and on the street people say hello.

I will miss my neighborhood a great deal. I will miss the restaurants, bars, family owned and operated stores, parks, the promenade on the water with sweeping views of the New York skyline. Heck- I will even miss the fact that Bay Ridge had it's 15 minutes of fame when that Tornado touched down a few weeks ago just a few blocks away.

Milo will also miss the walks around the block and Shore Road Park and dog-run. He will miss running into the other dogs in the building- especially Buttercup- a female golden retriever. She was the first dog Milo ran into when we first moved into the building. He will even miss the hydrant in front of the building!

If you think about it, what's not to be missed? To be continued...

Over the Fence

I find it difficult reading stories about pet deaths or watching Animal Planet's program Animal Cops or Emergency Vets show. A story in the Gothamist about a dog that went missing after being dropped off at a doggy spa and was eventually found dead, gave me chills. I could not imagine what the owner of the dog must have felt like when hearing that her dog was missing while she was on vacation in California. When I am away on vacation or business, I am not constantly calling my friend who watches Milo, however, when I see my caller ID flashing my friend's number, I jump to answer the phone. Of course, I am over-reacting and it could be a parent with a child scenario, etc.

I have been told by many that I am over-protective of Milo and that he is spoiled a great deal. I have heard many stories about dogs running off while playing in a yard and getting hit by cars or never to be found again. Yes- Milo is trained and in most cases, when he is at the dog run, he will come to me when called. But, a dog run is an enclosed area. I often see people walking their dogs in the park without a leash and wonder what would they do if the dog took off to chase a squirrel and was half-way through the park with the owner yelling the dog's name in a frantic attempt to grab the dog.

Is it a chance that every dog owner has to take? I will be moving to a house next month with a large front yard that has a fence. The fence is not tall and someone suggested it might be too low for Milo and that he could jump over the fence- which is right off the street! Perhaps it would be wise to think positive and know that Milo would not do such a thing. Maybe we as dog owners should question why our dog would run-away?

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!

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!

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!

Welcome to Milo's World and Mine

This is just a test! My favorite picture of Milo :)