Tales from the SLIS (part 2)

Why is everyone in my class so fixated on paper resources?! 

Tales from the SLIS

Ooh I get a weird, and probably unhealthy, satisfaction when I'm right...

Down the Rabbit Hole, or Why I Love/Hate Wikipedia

I was watching Bridesmaids (2011) and at the end Wilson Phillips performs their song "Hold On." I looked them up on wikipedia to see when that song was popular. (If you can't tell by the fashion in the video, it was 1990.) Of course, I had to read the entire article while I was there which is why I love/hate Wikipedia. I always get sucked down the rabbit hole by the many hyperlinks within.

I knew that the Wilsons part of Wilson Phillips refers to the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, but didn't know that the Phillips part refers to the daughter of John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas. This led me to read the articles on all of the people linked to above. Apparently, both John and Michelle were not know for being very faithful but it was the 70s. And check out this picture of John.... A beige top hat and a fur? I can only imagine that women were throwing themselves at him!


It turns out that he had two other wives with who he produced other famous children. His oldest daughter, Mackenzie Phillips, was also a singer and would later claim to have had an incestuous relationship with him. His younger daughter Bijou Phillips is an actor who I'm most familiar with as serial killer and mother of the title character in the sitcom Raising Hope.  

I also learned that Mama Cass Eliot of the Mamas & the Papas was only 32 when she died. Now that I'm in my early 30s, it's weird to realize how tragically young some of these famous artists were when they died. Her wikipedia article also says, "An-oft repeated urban legend states that Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich. The story, which started following the discovery of her body, was based on speculation in the initial media coverage. Police had told reporters that a partially eaten sandwich found in her room might have been to blame, though an autopsy had yet to be conducted. Despite the post-mortem examination finding that Elliot had died of a heart attack and no food at all was found in her windpipe, the false story that she choked on a sandwich has persisted in the decades following her death. In fact, Elliot had lost 80 pounds (36 kg) in the eight months before her death by fasting four days a week. Her fatal heart attack was most likely related to this extreme weight loss measure which weakened her heart."

Gives whole new meaning to California Dreamin'...

What's in a name?

For most of my life I've hated my last name. Reitmeyer is German so it sounds choppy and I don't like the flow of it. Also the "ei" part confuses people. In English, "ei" can sound like an "e" like in "receive" although it sometimes sounds like an "i" like in "heist" or like an "a" in "weigh." Because of this, people have been butchering it for as long as I can remember. It is pronounced Right-my-er not Rit-my-er, Reet-my-er, or Re-it-mir.

That part I'm used to at this point. The part that makes me cringe to this day are the intentional modifications used to mock me in school. My P.E. teacher in elementary called me Wrongmeyer because I was/am terrible at all things athletic. And since a teacher made it up to taunt me, all of the other kids thought it was hilarious to follow her lead. In middle school (7th or 8th grade?) one of my classes had a substitute teacher. He was taking attendance and had difficulty pronouncing my name and decided to call my Rottweiler instead. Although he was only there torment me for one day, the rest of the kids remembered and continued to call me that well after he was gone. Kids can be so cruel, especially when adults teach them to be cruel. 

Several years ago, my Dad started his own technology consulting business which he named Reit Consulting, although the second part has since been changed to Technologies. My sister, a realtor for less than a year, also used it for branding herself as in, "We'll find you the Reit Home." I've also sort of grown fond of and adopted the "Reit" brand. I may never start my own business or use it in an official capacity but I've considered making it my middle name if I ever get married and take a new last name. 

To What End?

The In Crowd, or Fear and Loathing in Library Land
I've definitely become aware of the "secret society in the library profession" since I started working in library-land. In fact, it's one of the reason I decided to stick with this job and pursue this profession. The appreciation of my local community or co-workers is not enough for me. I know that it should be but (almost) no one here seems to care as much about the big picture. I want to be part of the group of motivated librarians that help shape the image of the "library" and what it represents to people.

Valerie's post is a good reminder that I have plenty of work to do at the local level, and that work will earn me the support I need at a higher level, even if I never keynote a conference or win a national award. For now I'm just going to keep listening and work on my degree because I'm sure I'll have plenty of time for all that other stuff later.

Does being right always matter?

{“Kindness is a/the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”  ~ Mark Twain}

I don't know if Twain really said this or not, but my experience with the source of this info makes me automatically question it's validity. Does it matter? Do I need to spend 15+ minutes searching for the answer but does it matter? 

It's not like the quotation contains "fact" that might be detrimental if found to be wrong. It's not like someone else is losing copyright profits by Twain getting credit. Anyone could have said it first. Maybe the first person to put those words together in that order unwitting gave the credit to Twain thinking it was something he said. 

Trying to always be "right" is exhausting...

Renovation. It Starts.

The construction crew has been working outside for a while, clearing trees, digging a giant hole for the lower level, tearing out a lot of concrete, etc. On Monday, whoever is in charge came in and said that they were going to move inside soon, especially if it started raining.

Carly & I were tasked with cleaning out the Friends room on Tuesday which wasn't too bad, but not what we were expecting to do all day. We already a lot of stuff out on the book sale tables and had Giggil scheduled to come that morning to take all of the hardbacks that weren't selling. We did have over a dozen shelves of discarded Children's books that we hadn't looked at which we had to sort at break-neck speed. We wanted Giggil to be able to take the majority of them so we were trying to get it done before they arrived. We managed to get everything ready but the Giggil guy didn't have enough room in his truck to take everything but he came back the next morning to get the rest. The stuff we saved for the book sale is now just hanging out on carts since there was no table space. I just finished moving the FOWL file cabinet and other misc supplies to my office yesterday (Friday). 

On Wednesday I started to gather all of the crap equipment (11 CRT monitors!) I wanted out of the building into the Front Office so that the Recycle Force guys could come Thursday morning. I stopped for a while because we were having a Magic Science Show in the morning and I didn't want to be carrying heavy, awkward things around with lots of kids running all over the place. While I was taking a break from that, I helped Sheryl clean out the Front Office closet. I was amazed to find a graveyard of equipment in there that I had no idea existed. I found a reel-to-reel filmstrip projector, a slide projector, a brailler, and a machine that says it scans books and turns it into "high-quality audio!" I moved all of it to my office and now I can't wait to try out all of it. I'm thinking about making a display of "Vintage Technology" in the future.

On Thursday morning, the Recycle Force guys showed up around 9:15-9:30 and were out of the parking lot with their giant truck before we opened at 10. I feel like nothing ever goes according to schedule so I'm mentioning this so I can remember that ALMOST nothing ever goes according to plan. After that we needed to shift children's books. Thousands of children's books. Some boys from the middle school football team came to help later that morning. I had two helping me shift which was almost not helpful at all. Others moved furniture in the front office and shelving from Children's to Reference. The foreign language collection was moved from the wall to the previously mentioned, newly relocated shelving.

On Friday I moved what was left in the Friends room (file cabinet, tablecloths, etc.) into my office.