I visited the school that does the training for the A+ certification. The training for this one test is $3000. Three thousand dollars. THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!

Not so much happening.

On the up side, they made it sound like the A+ test is hella easy, so maybe I can just study for it on my own. Of course, they also do training for a bunch of other tests, including all the Microsoft certifications and the CCNA, which is reputed to be, like, the hardest test in the whole entire world apart from maybe the bar exam. So maybe they just think the A+ test is easy because they're comparing it to these other tests. I will have to look into it some more.

This school was also a major sausage fest. The recruiter was a guy, both instructors who were there were guys, and the 8-10 students currently there were all guys. They didn't make a big deal out of it or act like it was cute that a girl wanted to try to work with computers or anything like that. They probably didn't even notice it. But I did. I've gotten used to this not being a problem, since I work in a library and librarianship is traditionally a female field. But now I'm remembering college and one of the reasons I didn't want to pursue computer jobs after I graduated: even if the guys aren't actively trying to make you feel inferior, the fact that it's a primarily male field is uncomfortable and makes the job harder. It doesn't have anything to do with the guys I'm working with (usually). It's just the patriarchy and internalized sexism. And I hate it.

I'm back from Oklahoma. Had a headache most of the drive back, which wasn't helped by looking at bright headlights a lot. I've just finished catching up on my friends list, which had gotten to skip=200 without me checking it constantly.

I have a big project due in Collection Development Tuesday night, so the next couple days are gonna be hectic. I'm probably around a third of the way through, and I'm not sure what format we're supposed to use to turn it in. I think she might want it printed out, which is annoying. My spreadsheet is too wide to print and have it look right. Basically what we're doing is picking a subject and creating a collection of books and other items for a pretend library we make up, with a budget of $2000. I have to figure out where the money comes from (e.g. famous person donates it for the purpose of setting up a collection on their pet topic) and write various collection development policy stuff, then talk about what I learned and crap like that. My topic is arctic exploration. So far I've managed to find about 20 books that I ABSOLUTELY MUST READ. This is not counting the ones I've already read. As you can see, I picked a topic I can gush about at great length. So far, I've just been putting the books in whatever order I find them, but I'd like to go back and separate them by what explorer they're about and stuff, so it's easier to see what kind of coverage I've got. I'm thinking that would make it more interesting (at least to me). There'd be topics like: Sir John Franklin, Sir John Ross, Elisha Kent Kane, North Pole, South Pole, Antarctica, Northwest Passage, William McClintock, Modern Exploration, Women Explorers (as someone on Amazon said, "cuz heaven forbid they'd just get in the other books"), Inuit, George Back, John Rae, Robert Falcon Scott, Roald Amundsen, OMG I LOVE THIS TOPIC!!!1!1!!!

I read two books this weekend, which was an amazing and wonderful treat. I mean, I reread the Honor Harrington books every five seconds, but I don't get to new stuff nearly as often. It takes more concentration to keep track of what's going on if I haven't read it before, so if I feel like I don't have enough time I don't tend to read as much new stuff. So I read Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth by Wayne R. Besen. Ex-gay ministries have been in the news a lot lately, because of Zach and because of a series on Salon.com. Love in Action actually came to SNU while I was there and did a chapel presentation, which apparently was rather misleading, according to the information in this book. That is, they said that being sexually abused as a child is what makes you gay, and that anybody can become 100% heterosexual (among other things). Now that I know there are religious groups who believe the Bible doesn't condemn homosexuality and who dispute the claims of ex-gay ministries and their supposed success rates (none of them actually keep statistics), it seems like it would have been appropriate for SNU to let us know there was an opposing view. I also read What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak, because I'm curious about about what pro-gay scholars have to say about the Bible's views.

Finally, GIP to lafemme_icons. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead: like Terry Pratchett, except it's LITRACHUR!

First, some background. Most libraries have a Collection Development Policy, which is a set of guidelines for deciding what goes into the library collection. Usually it will say what formats they don't collect, like Reader's Digest Condensed Books or textbooks.

I've had to read quite a few collection development policies recently, and most public library policies say they don't collect spiral-bound books. This is odd, because the only reason I could think of for omitting spiral-bound books is that they don't fit right on the shelves or tend to fall apart more quickly than hardback books. But we collect lots of other things that don't fit right on the shelves or fall apart quickly (giant art books, magazines).

Dr. Akin cleared this one up for us. The reason public libraries added this to collection development policies is because of this book. They wanted to avoid having to buy Madonna's book, and since it's spiral-bound they just decided to say that don't buy spiral-bound books. And so it remains, 13 years later. *shakes head*

I really really need to do laundry, but I don't have time till Wednesday. I have to do my Collection Development assignments tonight and go to class tomorrow night. Wednesday's my day off, though I've already got two appointments that day. And I need to find some time to get ahead so I can go to Shawnee next weekend.

I'm attempting to acquire several new shows this summer. Trouble is, I'm not used to having appointment television anymore, so I tend to forget to watch things until a couple hours too late, when I then shout "damn it!" at myself. Because it's the end of the world when one misses a television show. I'm trying to start watching House, which comes on while I'm in class Tuesday nights. That means I have to remember to record it, which has so far not happened. Heck, I don't even know if I LIKE House, because I have yet to remember to watch it. I've watched Lost once, because picara claims I need to get into it. Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made Supersize Me, has a new show called 30 Days, which I'm also trying to remember to watch. Wednesday night again. It just premiered last week, so I have watched every single episode of it. HA! July will be the Tour de France. I have no idea how I'm going to find time to do schoolwork, what with the three hours a day of Tour coverage I need to watch. Lance! Ivan Basso! Thomas Voeckler! Fabian Cancellara! Floyd Landis! Phil & Paul, who are somarriedomg!

I have much much love for Lotion by the Greenskeepers. I don't have an .mp3, since I bought it from iTunes, but maybe I'll get around to creating one here eventually so others can experience the wonder of a song based on The Silence of the Lambs.