starting over

new blog

I am a sinner and I've abandoned my blog!

For those of you who haven't cut me from your blog-roll already you might of noticed that I haven't been into the blogging thing lately. I have a feeling this is going to change soon. I want to change the focus of my blog so I'm planning to start off fresh. I haven't decided on a new address or even if I'm going to make it public yet, but if I do I'm sure you'll find me. Maybe I'll come back to this blog, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Thank you for reading me and for all of your comments.

The long awaited ALA Annual post

Well it's taken me awhile but I'm finally blogging about ALA Annual 2008. The one thing I have to say that about it that It made me realize that I'm much less idealistic now than only a year ago when I was fresh out of library school. So it was good for a refresher. I even picked up a copy of The Intellectual Freedom Manual to keep as a reminder of the ideals that attracted me to the profession in the first place.

Instead of going on and on about the conference, I shot and edited a video summary of my experience (which is why I haven't blogged on the subject until now). Enjoy:

music: Salute Your Solution by the Raconteurs (2008)

Rats

I'd like to introduce you to my new pets, Ula (brown & white) and Niko (grey & white). I picked them up yesterday from the local SPCA . I've heard about how smart rats are, but these guys are pretty impressive. They'll be fetching my slippers in no time. I'm a little worried about Ula because she isn't as active and has been sleeping more than Niko, so I'm keeping an eye on her.

symptoms of withdrawal

I survived my day without Internet, but it was harder than I thought it was going to be. I literally did not want to get out of bed in the morning and had to repress urges to go online throughout the day. I got out of my apartment for a good chunk of the day for a haircut, a stop at the coffee place, and a swim, and was considering just avoiding my computer as much as possible by going to a movie and doing some shopping, but figured that this would be cheating. So, it was me and my computer in my apartment not talking to each other. I should mention also that I don't have a tv, so I had no source of mindless entertainment. By the time evening came about I felt a shift in my attitude towards a feeling of liberation and that my chain connecting me to the Web (tried hard to avoid an obvious metaphor there) was cut, or at least made longer. So, what I learned was that yes, I am definately addcited to the Web, but I think I can manage my addiction.

Cold Turkey

This article about Google from The Atlantic has been getting a lot of attention on a few of my library-related listservs and blogs I read. It's all about how Google and the Internet as a whole has changed the way we think and communicate with each other. The author, Nicholas Carr, writes about how he has noticed a dramatic decline in his attention span and blames the bite-size nature and easy access of information on the Web for this decline. It was at this point in reading the article that my attention span quit on me and was once again easily distracted.

I am addicted the Internet. I check my email obsessively and thanks to Netvibes I now check my email, facebook, twitter, news, and blogs just as obsessively and all at once. My attention span has definately gotten shorter than it was just a few months ago. I know this because I just finished a book a month longer than it should of taken me.

So I've decided to take a 24-hour break from the Net. I know that 24 hours won't cure my addiction, but I need to know that I can do it, that I'm still in control. I have tomorrow and the next day off from work (where I need to access the Web for my job) so I thought this would be a good time for me to try this experiment. If I can get through tomorrow, I'll see about going without for the next day, but I'm not making any promises.

Then on Friday I work for a few hours and then I'm off to Anaheim for ALA until Monday! I will see you on the other side with my report on the conference.

film series update

Last month I went to a "mixer" hosted by the Fresno Filmmakers Forum. It was an enlightening experience and everybody there was supportive of my idea to show locally made films at the library. A couple of folks even volunteered to help out in any way they can without my asking! By the way, if you're going to a meeting of filmmakers, expect to be filmed, perhaps unknowingly:



Since this meeting I've posted my intentions on the forums listserv and have gotten a few responses so far. They all have websites for their projects and at least a couple have gotten me excited about the potential for this project. Even if I start off with these few responses, I'm thinking others will be inspired to contribute. Hopefully this thing gets off the ground and I don't have to disappoint. I haven't gotten any responses from Adult Services for my inquiries on going ahead with the project. Once I get a look at these films then things are going to have to get serious.