tent palace

We took Zoey on her first camping trip last weekend. She was really great, and I considered writing this entire post from her point of view, but then I realized that even if it ended up being kinda funny, it would probably come off being a little too dog-focused, in that weird I-am-obsessed-with-my-pet kind of way.

We went to Happy Hills with Sony and Lou. Sony had prepared all this fancy food ahead of time, including homemade macaroni salad and some chicken and shrimp vegetable stuff that ended up on kabobs. On Saturday we went kayaking (because they were out of canoes at the time we got there) and Zoey totally rode in the kayak with Johnny for the whole 5 mile trip. She just sat there all calm, like she'd done it every single day, but barked at the dumb asses who were drunk and jumping out of trees into the river.

It only rained saturday night and some of sunday morning, but we were all tarped out and fully prepared.

I found out that the coffee shop at work leaves next week. That means there is only 5 more days of excessively convenient coffee.

I joined the Librarian Fit Club in order to address some of the issues very aptly reflected by Scootking in her recent post (except that I am not even close to being as active as she is). You should do it too. It will be more fun if we know one another too, don't you think?


I just spilled tea on my shirt. Arg.

countdown

It's only 1 week until Johnny leaves for the island paradise of Sardinia! She claims she will keep up with her blog, so we all have to check and keep her on it.

The library move has really started moving. ha. Library Journal published a little article about it last month and there are some drawings and photos on the website. A few personnel have moved already and they are in the process of moving the books. I'm hoping to get upstairs sometime soon and get some photos of the emptiness. I'll post them when I do. I don't actually move out of my office until early October (tentatively) but we are the last to go. The coffee shop will be leaving next month so I'll be sitting here in silence for once. They've started listening to country music almost exclusively, so I won't mind about that part. I will have to walk to get coffee though, which will take some getting used to.

on a jet plane

Jetgirl was so fun this month. Aside from just a general good time, Johnny did a very funny superhero number and Tamale danced with some fire, and Kitty Victorian came and twirled tassels. I've been fighting off a sore throat for a few days, so aside from the party, I just slept.

Sunday night we went to a fundraiser to help one of our friends pay for his transition, then yesterday I saw this NYT article about "the controversy" in the community. I didn't know about said controversy -- has anyone else heard this before?

Johnny is leaving next Thursday! I'm going to be so sad. Zoey, the cats, and I are already commisserating on ways to keep one another company. I'm making a list of projects.

On the upside, I'm really excited because I finally bought my ticket to Italy. We've planned out this somewhat elaborate itinerary which involves a good portion of the major Italian cities, so we're getting the cheap flights early and the train tickets later. If you have any less-obvious "must see" Italian treasures or travel tips, leave a comment.

Life lesson: Don't be a spoiler

Whatever you do, don't randomly IM someone with the results of the #1 reality show on Bravo. They might not have watched it yet.

Office decor

Last weekend we went to Indiana and visited Johnny's family. Her nephew races go-karts and so we ended up the day by going to the L-burg Motorcycle Speedway and watching hours of go-karts and dirt bikes without brakes racing around and around. The bikes were split up by age, so there was this one division of little kids, like 5 year olds, who were going around. All the dads (or coaches?) came out and were rooting them on. It was pretty cute.

Then Sunday we went to my sister and nieces' combine birthday dinner and then to the Roller Derby which is always a blast.

I just had a bust of Dylan Thomas delivered to my door. He says Hi.


I took the photo with my new work webcam, so if anyone wants to video chat or Skype, I can totally do that now. woot!

all kindsa fun

This weekend presented some noteable lessons:

Karaoke


Don't try to sing "Paul Revere" with a drunk mohawked soccer mom. It's not going to be pretty.


Birthday party


Drinking and canoeing don't really mix. Especially at night.

If you get out of the boat, be sure you know how to get back in.

If you are going to steer the boat, sit in the back, and try not to run into a tree straight off the dock.

That cornucopia bug is a bagworm. Gross.


Irish Festival


Seeing your coworkers doing Irish Step Dancing has got to be one of the funniest things ever.

If you decide to run an Irish Festival, please have some Irish beer (No, Killian's doesn't count).


Niece's birthday present delivery


Call before you just show up at your brother's house 2 hours early on a Sunday. Luckily, they have kids.


Pre-season football


Don't just assume that, if the Eagles are ahead in the 3rd quarter, that they will pull it off. I should have learned this one by now.

Caterpillar thanksgiving

I like to step on really crunchy leaves. This makes walking in the fall among my favorite things to do because there are so many crunchy leaves on the sidewalks. I'll even go out of my way to step on one that seems like it will sounds especially satisfying. Yesterday, I was going to lunch with my friend when I stopped myself, for some reason, from stepping on a really crunchy leaf. As I stepped over it, I realized why I didn't step on it -- it was moving! I stopped and went back and we examined it.

It was a bug, in some sort of cornucopia.


I thought it looked like some 4th grade art project, with a caterpillar stuck inside. We examined it thoroughly and concluded it must be some sort of anomalous cocoon, crafted in some emergency situation where the silk-maker wasn't working...or whatever. But then, we saw another abandoned cocoon about 100 feet down the sidewalk. I'm contribute it to What's that Bug?

Libritaly

If you read almost any other library blog you've probably seen this photo, but I can't help but repost it here. In case you don't read library blogs, it's a play on ALA's new slogan: "Come together @ your library" originally uploaded by Jessamyn.


Which reminds me that Johnny and I had this long conversation last night about what's the point of a GLBT organization in ALA. I explained the purpose of the RT to her, but she still thought it was a little weird that I went to a Queer Social at ALA. I should have just told her that it was the free food and wine.

Which reminds me that she totally got her visa last week, so she is definitely leaving for Sardinia in less than a month. I can't believe it. I am excited for her, a little jealous, and really looking forward to the 15 day vacation tour of Italy we'll be taking in early December. We started planning our route last night, which was a little tiring, but here's a preview: Emerald Coast (Sardinia), Pisa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan. Here's a map. But the real question is: hostels or hotels.com?