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.

picara and I were discussing how we plan to get tattoos when we graduate. picara's would be something like the scales of justice, mine would be an open book with the pages flapping. My mother, the English teacher, (who thinks tattoos are stupid) heard this and interjected, "I'm going to get a tattoo of Shakespeare on my butt. It'll say 'But, soft!' "

We just about died laughing.

Then picara suggested it could say "What, Lucius, ho!" Because my mother's students, when they read Julius Caesar out loud, have been known to pronounce this "What luscious ho."

Coincidentally, both (approximately) the time since my last update and the time till my birthday! Even more coincidentally, my shoes are getting old. (If you got that, MARRY ME.) Anyway, I don't feel bad, since picara hasn't updated since Bill Clinton was president. (And she never reads her flist, so she probably won't see that totally awesome insult. Woe.)

Anyway, life proceeds. My job sucks. I haven't found another one. I haven't looked very hard, though, because every job listing I look at makes me depressed. I have to give a presentation at the library general staff meeting next month about Vista and Office 2007, for which "at least 30 minutes" is being allocated. I haven't started freaking out about it yet, but, you know, stay tuned.

My summer class is over, and I made an A! I am awesome. My fall class, Ethics and Librarianship, starts today. I'm really interested in the subject, but it looks like a much harder class. Then again, it's usually easier to write papers about abstract topics like ethics than it is to write papers about which RFID/self-check system you're going to use in your hypothetical library. There are so many more BS possibilities with ethics papers. We're going to have a class blog that each of us has to spend one week moderating. This totally makes the class all "hip" and "Web 2.0." In the teacher's mind. Sadly, it's a private blog, so you will not be able to visit and marvel at the witty brilliance of me and my classmates. Or my teacher's mad blog skilz, which I'm sure totally exist.

God, work is boring. There's nothing happening except that stupid spreadsheet I mentioned yesterday that I don't want to work on. H left at 3, so at least I don't feel like he's monitoring me. H will, however, be in at the regular time tomorrow. I know this because he sent out an email telling everyone he would be late.

I'm totally going to get caught up on Supernatural and SGA. It will happen. I'm in the process of acquiring all the episodes I haven't seen, and since I don't yet have cable hooked up at the new apartment (or Internet, for that matter) I should have plenty of time to watch them. acostilow hasn't seen a lot of Supernatural season 2 either, since she hasn't had cable or a COMPUTER for, like, evar. I really don't know how she survived. So we will catch up together, which is yay.

The teacher still hasn't opened the class, so I still don't have any idea what I'm going to have to do this summer, or how busy I'll be. It's making me increasingly mad, because the summer semester is short anyway. We don't have all kinds of time to fuck around. Also, I'm gung-ho about it right now. This doesn't happen very often, so I've learned to take advantage of it when it happens. And I can't, which is so NOT COOL.

This is my new favorite icon EVAR. It was made by iconzicons. Also, it is appropriate, because today sucks very much. Classes start today, and my teacher still hasn't made the class accessible on Blackboard. H, my boss, is being an asshole (as per usual). I'm trying to decipher this obnoxious spreadsheet that was created before I started working here, and I know that H will hold me responsible for anything wrong with it, even though I neither created it, designed it, nor entered the data into it. And? I didn't get any ketchup with my french fries at Sonic!

I seriously do hate my job (which is mostly H's fault, but I digress), and I'd really like to leave. But I really don't want to look for another job, as job-hunting is pretty much my idea of hell. It took me many months to find this job, and I don't want to do that again. (I don't have time, either, now that I think about it. I work 7:30 - 4:30 every day.) I'm supposed to be able to use my vacation days beginning July 1st, so maybe I'll plan on doing a little looking as I have time, knowing I can set up interviews then. Of course, as I mentioned, school's starting today, so I expect to have precious little free time. But I have to finish this degree if I want to actually find a permanent job that I will hopefully like. The head reference librarian here was telling me the other day (in response to finding out that I'm in library school) that Systems is very cool because you get to know about computers and fix everything, etc. etc. Uh-huh. You also get to get paid practically nothing (for a job requiring a college degree!), and get to deal with everyone's problems, and get to work for the loathsome H, and get to be treated like you're just passing through because you're not actually a librarian. *points to icon* See? Appropriate.

I'm reading a series of posts by guest-blogger Sara Robinson at Orcinus. It's a fascinating look at authoritarianism and what prompts people to leave authoritarian groups like fundamentalist religion. I don't know how interesting this is to anybody else, but I'm endlessly fascinated by what I guess you'd call the interplay between religion and sociology. What does religion do for us? What kinds of things change what we believe, or what our religion believes? What kind of things *should* change our religion and what shouldn't? I know that etumon, at least, has wanted to know what I actually believe, so hopefully at least one person will find some of this interesting.

( Unintentionally-long essay ahead )

I've decided to register for two classes this fall, probably Library Automation and a special topic on Genealogy in public libraries. I've spent the last couple weeks deciding if I was ready to do this or not, and I can finally say that I feel really confident about it. So, ideally, I can take two classes in the fall and two in the spring and be done!

These days mainly all I'm doing is working at SNU. That's supposed to end when school starts there, so I don't know what I'm going to do for work beyond that. Life. Don't talk to me about life.

I'm also obsessively following the Landis doping allegations. *sigh* He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do that, but with the weight of all the other doping allegations surrounding this year's Tour, it's starting to seem like *everyone* must be doing it. And I wish Greg Lemond would stop talking out of his ass.

What's up with you?

Let's see, what's been going on?

Dr. Jeng is trying to fire me because I'm only registered for six hours instead of the supposedly-required nine. I'm still trying to sort this out, but it's freaking me out. It will probably work out, but that's not very comforting to me right now.

etumon is a sweetheart. She let me come and hang out with her last night to take my mind off my problems. We ate at Bennigan's and watched Ruthless People, which I had never seen. Then I came home and read fic all night because I couldn't sleep. And now I'm at Panera Bread, trying to get a handle on my various school and work problems and totally not looking at my friends list because I don't have a work-safe (restaurant-safe?) filter.

I applied for graduation this morning. I will be graduating this summer, hard as that is for me to count on.

Today is Tuesday, and there's no new Supernatural or House tonight! That is wrong on so many levels.

Reference? Is FINISHED! I just turned everything in. EVERYTHING. Then etumon and I went to Chili's to celebrate. School is finished for the year!

School is closed today. I didn't realize that until I was actually *at* school, because, silly me, I assumed that, since the roads seemed fine, school would be back on schedule. I had forgotten that this is *Texas*, where we close school in *anticipation* of snow. Not that school being closed does me any good, being as I'm a Distance Ed Student and all. I turned in my Internet final, which is a beautiful website with FOUR different pages. The professor said she'd give bonus points for websites that have more than one page. My website is here if anyone cares.

Today I have:

++ Driven to school and discovered it was closed.

++ Turned in my Internet final.

++ Spent time on the phone with State Farm setting up automatic withdrawals. This phone call coincided, annoyingly, with the beginning of Law & Order, and involved the State Farm lady calling me "kiddo" approximately 20 times. Yes, I know, they're our "good neighbors" and all. I don't care. I am participating in a *business transaction*. It is not appropriate to call your customer "kiddo." The end.

++ Watched two episodes of Law & Order.

++ Made biscuits.

++ Watched Jeopardy! and told Alex to shut up several times.

++ Read my friends list.

I would just like everyone to know that school sucks. On toast.

I am irrationally annoyed by the festive Livejournal header. Though it makes me somewhat happier to note that it's part of the War On Christmas.

So, the neighbors keep going in and out, and every time their door makes noise I think it's someone knocking on my door. It's very annoying. I get all tense every time, because I'm not dressed and I don't want to have to answer the door. (Yes, I know it's 5:30 in the afternoon. I'm still not dressed. Shut up.)

I'm going to the library tonight to work on my incomplete in Reference. Mary Beth is going to be working on Library Management, so we figure if we're both there we'll be more motivated to get something done.

Today I went to the library. Go me! Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot done. My excuse is that the wireless Internet wasn't working there. (Not that that would have kept me from writing papers or whatever, but it makes a good excuse.) Mary Beth helped me find some articles I needed, so I've got them all printed out for whenever I get around to actually doing the assignments.

Now I'm watching House. I just watched Cursed, and OMG Chase is so adorable. And he's so sweet to the kid! And I like how he doesn't let Cameron cajole him into being nice to his dad, because shut up Cameron.

GIP! This is my new House icon. Hugh Laurie has beautiful eyes.

I was frighteningly domestic yesterday. I made Virginia Beach Chicken, rice, salad, and raisin bread. None of them are hard to make, but, you know, cooking! Way better than peanut butter sandwiches or sitting in front of the TV with a box of Wheat Thins. Then etumon and I took turns playing Karaoke Revolution, which was fun. We had all the windows open, so my neighbors had the privilege of listening. Nobody complained, anyway.

I want donuts now. This is picara's fault.

I'm considering dropping one of my classes, Library Management. It's stressing me out a lot, and I haven't done quite a bit of the work. I don't really need the class, but if I drop it then I'll have to take three more hours next semester. I have to decide soon, because the deadline for dropping a class is November 3rd. Next semester there are several classes being offered that sound interesting. One is Systems Analysis, which is being taught by the same teacher I'm taking Internet from this semester. She's pretty well-organized, so I don't expect it will be a hard class. Dr. Martin is teaching a special topic called Library History, which has both a face-to-face and an online component. That one sounds like it might be hard, though. Also, there's Advanced Cataloging, which I've been interested in for awhile. An adjunct professor is teaching it, so I don't really know what to expect there. I'm afraid it'll be hard, too, but I enjoyed Cataloging.

I didn't make it to the library yesterday, so I'm supposed to go tomorrow to work on Reference. Mary Beth works till 10, so she'll be there to help. I really don't want to do my Reference stuff, but I know I have to. If I can make myself do it tomorrow, I can hopefully get it finished or close to finished.

Whee! Today is my LJ anniversary! I have been on LJ one whole year. This time last year I was on pins and needles about the election, checking polls and blogs every five seconds. I created a Livejournal mainly for my own benefit, to write about how I felt about the election and what was going on in my life. It's kind of morphed since then, as I was persuaded to give the link to my friends and slowly got comfortable friending people in the due South fandom and in others. Now, of course, I'm relying on LJ for everything, from fandom to political news. If a website doesn't have an RSS feed that I can pull onto my flist then I probably won't visit it. Um. All that to say...LJ is life? I guess?

Still no indictments. Come on, Fitzgerald! We're waiiitttinnng.

I bought books yesterday! Books I probably shouldn't have bought, since they're in hardcover, but I've been waiting for them for ages, so. That's my excuse. I bought Al Franken's new book, The Truth (With Jokes), the new Honor Harrington book, At All Costs, and a paperback called Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer. So, I have way more books than I have time to read. This is news to nobody.

I haven't done any work on Reference, the class I took an incomplete in this summer, since the fall semester started. (We're not telling my mother. I'm "working on it." In a way that looks like not working on it.) Mary Beth has offered to help me finish stuff, so we're supposed to go to the library on Friday to see what I can get done. Maybe we can get it all out of the way. And then I can go back to worrying myself to death over Library Management. Why did I ever think graduate school was a good idea?

(Words in this post the LJ spellchecker doesn't recognize: LJ, blogs, Livejournal, friending, fandom, RSS, flist, waiiitttinnng, Franken's, Bawer, spellchecker.)

I've just realized that the Library School's Fall Forum starts on September 30th at 6 PM. And I've been planning to go. But now I'm all, "B-but--Serenity!" I must go see Serenity on September 30th! What will I do? School is daring to interfere with fannish pursuits. This cannot be allowed to happen.

They're predicting that we might lose power this weekend because of the hurricane. I feel like I ought to work on my school work now, since it's due Monday and I might not have power to work on it closer to. But, you know, who wants to do that? I went to Wal-Mart yesterday because I needed a flashlight, and stuff I can eat that doesn't have to be refrigerated or cooked. Everybody and their brother was at Wal-Mart buying bottled water. Am I just not freaked out enough, or are they overreacting? I was going to fill up my car yesterday, too, but there were lines at all the gas stations and I didn't feel like waiting. I'm hoping it's just because it was rush hour. I may go this afternoon and see.

I now have a gmail account, but...I've got 3.1 megs of mail saved in my Fastmail account that I don't want to lose. And no way to transfer it to my gmail account. I don't have POP access with Fastmail, otherwise I think I could move my mail to Outlook, then have gmail retrieve it. Possibly. Could I do that with IMAP? *whines* I don't know how any of this works! I am helpless!

I'm still not allowed to go into Dr. Jacko's office when she's not here, which is highly inconvenient.

I hate it when people call me with a question that would have been answered for them if they'd just *attempted* to do something. Questions like, "Is the thing we're supposed to watch on the first or second DVD?" Cause, you know, if you put in the first DVD and don't see the thing we're supposed to watch, it's, I don't know, probably on the SECOND DVD.

I'm working in the office, and this one light I'm sitting under keeps turning itself on and off. Because it hates me.

Livejournal's spell check doesn't know the word 'DVD'. Or 'IMAP'. Shut up, Livejournal's spell check.

I would just like to say, this is going to be the easiest class ever. This is what we're doing this week in LS 5573 - The Internet:

Part I
Describe the library for which you intend to develop your website in this class. Analyze its current website (if it has one) and provide me with the URL. Write a few paragraphs summarizing the library as well as what you think the website should include to best serve its patrons.

Part II
If you have your own computer at home, or a computer at work that you are allowed to put software on, please complete the following tasks to make sure your computer is protected and updated.

If you only have access to campus lab computers, please contact me for an alternate assignment.

1. Install Spybot from http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html. Click on the "Download Now" words to start it. Run it after you install it.

2. Install the Google Toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com/. Take some time to explore its features. Use it to disable popup windows as described at http://toolbar.google.com/popup_help.html.

3. Go to Windows Update at http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us. Click on the "Express" button to install needed updates for your computer.

4. Buy and install some anti-virus software, if you don't have any. If you cannot afford to buy your own, contact me, and we'll find some alternatives for you. If you have anti-virus software, make sure it is up to date.

After you have completed these tasks, choose one of them to summarize. Write a few paragraphs (one page or less) about the process you followed to get it done, any problems you encountered while doing it, and why such a tool is necessary for effective Internet research.


----------------------------------------------------------

Though if it's going to go on like this, "Install software you should already have installed. Now describe the process," I may have to kill myself eventually. Also, Firefox. Firefox has its own little Google search box, and its own built-in popup blocker. I foresee assignments for which I will have to *shudder* open Internet Explorer. Not this one, though, because I have decided, based on no evidence whatsoever, that the Google Toolbar is stupid. I therefore refuse to install it.

Sharon, Mary Beth's roommate, has her sister Corliss visiting for a few days, so I was over there tonight to kind of hang out and sort of party ("like old people party," I was assured). Oh my god. I smell like cigarette smoke. I think they smoked an entire carton of cigarettes tonight between Corliss, Sharon, Mary Beth, and the 10 or 15 other people wandering around. We were sitting outside the entire time, because they can't smoke inside, so it was annoyingly hot and sticky. And there was beer. Lots of beer. Corliss bought two cases of beer and put them in a cooler so we wouldn't have to go inside to get it. I bought Diet Dr. Pepper because I knew I wouldn't want the beer. And, you know, Mary Beth's the youngest of them, and she's 46. Corliss is fifty-something. So I didn't figure on this being a "peer pressure can make you dress and act in strange ways" kind of situation. But no. Corliss was just sure I needed to have a beer. I've never had beer, so I don't even know if I'll like it, and I didn't want to try it for the first time in front of them. And it's not like I make a big deal out of it or anything. I just drink my own thing and they drink their thing. They don't have any reason to feel uncomfortable. Leave me alone about beer, people! Plus, there was dissing of Democrats, and Cindy Sheehan, and war protesters, and people going to Crawford. Grr.

Okay, so it wasn't all bad. There was a lot of funny, and I met this really cute guy named Demetrius, who was soft-spoken but polite and cool. There was making fun of people, and demonstrations of how one golfs with boobs. Sharon's not-boyfriend Curtis stopped by briefly, so we got to tease her about him for awhile. (He sells cheap jewelry on the side, and is only too happy to produce it so we can look at it. And when I say cheap jewelry, I mean CHEAP jewelry. Tacky, crappy, hideous stuff, mostly. I did get a couple hemp bracelets from him a few weeks ago. Other than that, I wouldn't wear this stuff in a million years.)

The problem, I have decided, is that, while I like hanging out with people, I don't get any energy from that. Some people get energy from being around other people. I get energy from being by myself, so being around other people gets exhausting after awhile. I feel like I need to recover. I seriously feel like I need to go be by myself and regroup before I'll feel like myself again. So I'm going to go read for awhile, and then sleep. Tomorrow I need to do laundry, seriously, and get ready for school to start on Monday. I'm actually kind of ready for school to start, which is good. Once it actually starts I won't know why I ever felt that way, but for the moment everything's copacetic.

Dear Reference Resources Comparison Assignment,

I hate you. I thought I had you almost done, but NO. TWU does not have online access to Texas Almanac anymore. So now I have to pick something else to compare. Which means I have to go BACK to the library to look at a hard copy of that something else. Hard copies are dumb. Texas Almanac is dumb. Texas is dumb.

No love,

-Laynie



Dear Texas,

You are not special. You are just another state. I have had it up to here with "Lone Star" this and "Texas Hold 'Em" that and "everything's bigger in Texas" crap and (God help me) "Texas beer rock." I blame everything, from my neighbor's giant truck to President Snippy, on you.

In conclusion, shut up, Texas.

-An unwilling resident



Dear laptop,

STOP GOING SO SLOW!!!11! You work fine at the library and at Panera Bread, but when I'm at home you start crawling along and taking ages to register me clicking on anything. I just clicked on something and counted 15 seconds before you even noticed. I don't know what your problem is, but if you don't get your act together I will THROW YOU DOWN THE STAIRS SO HELP ME GOD.

Much hate,

-Your extremely disgruntled owner



Dear new neighbor,

You own a giant truck with a cracked windshield. How nice for you. Stop parking it in my parking space. I live in Apartment O. Clearly, you do not. My parking space is marked with a very big blue O. I assume you know that you don't live in O. Therefore, the O parking space does not belong to you. Remove your giant truck from my parking space. I'll just be over here, speculating about the psychological relationship between the size of your giant truck and the size of your dick.

Bitchily,

O is for Pwnd