Notes from inside my head 1-5 October

• Why I like Wired Magazine online: they put closed captions on all their videos. CNN, you could do better. What I don't like about Wired & a lot of other online mags? Lazy lack of source citations. If you're going to write an article on a really interesting technical topic, I want to see where you found your information. Somewhere. Somehow. NO EXCUSES.

• The things we do for our loved ones: things like lifting the cat onto the bed at 3AM after he wakes you by repeatedly flinging himself at the side of the mattress. (He's 17 years old and can no longer jump high enough to reach the top.) Yes, we put steps by the bed for him to use. He refuses to walk up them at night. During the day? Sure. At night? NOPE.

• I sent a crankymail to PetSmart today. The cashier tried to blackmail my email out of me. They recently upgraded their rewards program, and email is now required to get discounts, I guess. Which is fine, but  I do not share my retail-rewards email in public. Period. Yeah, it's a quirk. It's my privacy, and I protect it by only signing up for things online, where I can unclick "send me spam coupons and savings" and "share my email with the world" boxes and set a password I can remember....ANYWAY.  I don't send complaint emails often, but when I do, they are coldly courteous and dripping with disappointment.  Grr. Arrgh.

• And some days you end up doing searches like these:
  • piebald moose alberta
  • cop slang personal vehicle
  • tulip virus colors

My big project for the week. I think most people saw these already, but I'm posting them here for posterity. And Dad. (Hi, Dad. Look, my workroom is now tackier than a North Woods roadside bar!) It was rainy and cold the day after I finished, but this room was cozy and perfect for writing.

•  I think I've engaged more library patrons in conversation in my last three shifts than in the previous ten. Why? Location, location, location. Let's just say people are MUCH more inclined to stop and ask questions when your desk is within the thresholding zone of the entrance AND directly faces the aisle than when it's perpendicular to traffic flow tucked back in a corner. Imagine that.The full story: The library where I work is renovating the lobby area where I usually work in Registration. Since we do a lot of directional work on a regular day, we successfully lobbied (HA PUN) to have a table closer to the entrance--before people get to the plastic-draped zone--so we can assure people that we're open, answer questions about the reno, and to encourage patrons onward to the temporary circulation & registration desks that have been set up in the Youth section for the month.

•  I'll end with a media consumption note. I'm all about books lately.  Since my last update I have finished reading all the published Confluence novels by Jennifer Foehner Wells, and completed Fran Wilde's Bone Universe series. Next up is Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse unless I get distracted by cheesy romance novels or something.  No new TV yet except the Good Place. (SO GOOD, GO WATCH IT.) I'm catching up on recent movies. Watched Overboard on a recommendation. It was strangely heartwarming in a problematic way. And I had to watch Death Wish, because I will always watch Bruce Willis, but since the original was a revenge fantasy based on offensive cliches and exploded urban violence myths, it did not age well. My recurrent thought while viewing:  WOW THIS IDEA WAS BAD THE FIRST TIME AND YET THESE WRITERS MANAGED TO MAKE IT WORSE.

And that's all the all there is for now.