It looks like I am going to be on yet another medication for my Crohn's disease. Cimzia is the name of the game this time, and it is injection based. So in a few days I plan to receive the vials, and will give myself a couple of shots every two weeks, and then every four weeks after that. Hopefully that puts me into remission soon!
This has been the major reason I haven't been able to blog much or even follow others. I just haven't had the energy.
A belated thanks to all here who supported me on my 1/2 marathon in San Antonio for Team Challenge and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. In that one race we raised almost 1 MILLION dollars for research!!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I cant believe its been this long!
Has it really been that long since I've posted? Even with Thanksgiving, my birthday, the 1/2 marathon in Texas, Christmas, New Years all in the past? What is the deal?
Okay, here is your silly library story of the day so far.
A customer called up wanting to place requests on a couple of books. She was very anxious and excited. As per library policy, I asked for her library card number to look up the account. She said that she didn't have it because...she was walking her freaking dog! (Her chuckle almost caused me to hang up) She had time to call us while walking her dog, and expected us to cater to her lack of preparation? I get so pissed with the sense of entitlement that some of our customers have, especially those who really don't deserve it. I almost lost it, but I think it was too early in the morning to have a meltdown. So I gave in and asked for her name and address (which we normally dont do), and put the books on hold for her.
Okay, here is your silly library story of the day so far.
A customer called up wanting to place requests on a couple of books. She was very anxious and excited. As per library policy, I asked for her library card number to look up the account. She said that she didn't have it because...she was walking her freaking dog! (Her chuckle almost caused me to hang up) She had time to call us while walking her dog, and expected us to cater to her lack of preparation? I get so pissed with the sense of entitlement that some of our customers have, especially those who really don't deserve it. I almost lost it, but I think it was too early in the morning to have a meltdown. So I gave in and asked for her name and address (which we normally dont do), and put the books on hold for her.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
quick work observation
A customer came in yesterday on a segway. It wasn't your normal model though,but more of a hospital assigned/medical rental outlet cheap model. I had thought I had seen it all. I know now to think better of that.
Monday, October 20, 2008
We're number 1! We're number 1!
NEWPORT BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY RATED #1 (in Cali)
The Newport Beach Public Library received the highest ranking of California public libraries in its population category according to the recently released Hennen’s American Public Library Rankings (HAPLR). Newport Beach is rated number one out of forty-four public libraries in communities with populations from 50,000 to 100,000.The HAPLR Index attempts to identify the public libraries in America with the highest input and output measures. The study focuses on 15 key factors, including funding levels, collections, staffing, hours open, number of visitors and reference services. Rankings are based on nationwide public library statistics collected from over 9,000 public libraries.
The HAPLR Index for 2008 was announced in the October issue of American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association.
http://www.haplr-index.com/States%202008/ca.html
Thursday, October 2, 2008
There is none righteous, no, not one (political parties included)
I found this to be an interesting commentary from Michael Medved. I hope y'all know me well enough to understand that I don't think one party is better than the whole. I pretty much hate politics.
"For people who feel lost and lonely, what's the best way to work your way back to home and wholeness? Does it make more sense to rely on faith or politics?
In this autumnal season of electoral fever - and of the Jewish high holy days - the choice between God and government significantly divides right and left, Republicans and Democrats.
At their Denver convention, the Democrats adopted the most unabashedly liberal platform in the party's history, including the following remarkable promise: "We will provide immediate relief to working people who have lost their jobs, families who have lost their homes and people who have lost their way."
While one can imagine frenzied Democratic efforts to muster "immediate relief" for lost jobs and lost homes, how, exactly, do they propose to assist those who have "lost their way"? For all the messianic pretensions of the Obama campaign, the junior senator from Illinois has not yet, to my knowledge, proclaimed himself "the way, the truth, and the life."
Nevertheless, the candidate's most devoted acolyte, Michelle Obama, has repeatedly suggested that the purpose of the campaign isn't just to transform our politics and to heal our earth, but to rescue shattered and stricken souls. On February 3, 2008, she told a rapturous crowd at UCLA: "We have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation." The next week she expressed similar sentiments to an audience in Green Bay, Wisconsin, declaring: "We are dealing with a basic hole in our soul of the nation- we are lost."
In other words, the wife of the presidential candidate echoes the Democratic Party platform in openly defining the campaign's goals in spiritual and not just political terms. Is it any wonder that the movement behind Barack Obama has taken on some of the weird, zombie-like trappings of a trendy religious cult? In promising the repair of broken souls and showing the way to those who are lost, this campaign has undertaken tasks usually reserved for religious institutions.
In the Jewish tradition, the fall season is devoted to repentance, prayer and restoration of the soul, even more than campaigning for your favorite candidate. Rosh HaShannah - the Jewish New Year which began on Monday night - introduces the "ten days of repentance" culminating with the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which falls this year on October 9th. The Hebrew word for repentance - "t'shuvah" - literally means "return" and the whole purpose of the sacred season is to bring back lost souls (all of us, in actuality) to the Godly and honorable path we are meant to walk. Despite the sad fact that most American Jews feel passionately committed to liberal causes, our liturgy and tradition never suggest that we rescue the lost and repair our souls through supporting specific candidates or government policies, no matter how worthy. The process of slate-cleaning and fresh starts that we undertake every year at this time requires an intensive effort of self-examination and personal change, not the easier (and shallower) immersion in sweeping social movements.
For religious Jews and committed Christians, real change demands a commitment to God and His law, not just volunteer efforts for an inspiring politican. The very idea that government and politics can accomplish the work of spiritual renewal counts as a ludicrous insult, an obamanation. When it comes to the job of "fixing souls" or showing the way to lost sheep, the right response for any presidential candidate would be: "That's beyond my pay grade."
The leftwing tendency to view politics as a substitute for religion will properly worry more Americans than the right's habit of allowing faith commitments to impact political positions. It's true that social conservatives sometimes feel such fervent religious enthusiasm that we allow our faith to spill over into the political realm. On the other hand, liberals nurture the sort of political intensity and fervor that not only invades the religious domain but often takes the place of organized faith. Liberal denominations regularly describe their chief mission as "social justice" - meaning the agitation for redistributionist and activist government policies long advocated by the left. My friend, columnist Mona Charen, memorably described Reform Judaism (the most "progressive" branch of our ancient faith) as "nothing more than the Democratic Party with holidays."
If there's one message of this season's real holidays, it's that no movement, no political campaign, no public initiative can fill "holes in the soul" as effectively as nurturing a private relationship with the Creator. As Rabbi Daniel Lapin trenchantly observes, people will either worship "the big G" - God, or else they will worship "the little g"-government.
The adulation and embrace of government will undermine devotion to God, just as subservience and love for God will dilute the authority of government. That's why totalitarian systems of every sort distrust and suppress authentic religious faith.
This year, the month of October brings both political frenzy and religious reflection. In the dual spirit of this season, may we help to return the lost from their wandering and restore all broken souls, finding the strength and the insight to uphold the right "G." "
"For people who feel lost and lonely, what's the best way to work your way back to home and wholeness? Does it make more sense to rely on faith or politics?
In this autumnal season of electoral fever - and of the Jewish high holy days - the choice between God and government significantly divides right and left, Republicans and Democrats.
At their Denver convention, the Democrats adopted the most unabashedly liberal platform in the party's history, including the following remarkable promise: "We will provide immediate relief to working people who have lost their jobs, families who have lost their homes and people who have lost their way."
While one can imagine frenzied Democratic efforts to muster "immediate relief" for lost jobs and lost homes, how, exactly, do they propose to assist those who have "lost their way"? For all the messianic pretensions of the Obama campaign, the junior senator from Illinois has not yet, to my knowledge, proclaimed himself "the way, the truth, and the life."
Nevertheless, the candidate's most devoted acolyte, Michelle Obama, has repeatedly suggested that the purpose of the campaign isn't just to transform our politics and to heal our earth, but to rescue shattered and stricken souls. On February 3, 2008, she told a rapturous crowd at UCLA: "We have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation." The next week she expressed similar sentiments to an audience in Green Bay, Wisconsin, declaring: "We are dealing with a basic hole in our soul of the nation- we are lost."
In other words, the wife of the presidential candidate echoes the Democratic Party platform in openly defining the campaign's goals in spiritual and not just political terms. Is it any wonder that the movement behind Barack Obama has taken on some of the weird, zombie-like trappings of a trendy religious cult? In promising the repair of broken souls and showing the way to those who are lost, this campaign has undertaken tasks usually reserved for religious institutions.
In the Jewish tradition, the fall season is devoted to repentance, prayer and restoration of the soul, even more than campaigning for your favorite candidate. Rosh HaShannah - the Jewish New Year which began on Monday night - introduces the "ten days of repentance" culminating with the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which falls this year on October 9th. The Hebrew word for repentance - "t'shuvah" - literally means "return" and the whole purpose of the sacred season is to bring back lost souls (all of us, in actuality) to the Godly and honorable path we are meant to walk. Despite the sad fact that most American Jews feel passionately committed to liberal causes, our liturgy and tradition never suggest that we rescue the lost and repair our souls through supporting specific candidates or government policies, no matter how worthy. The process of slate-cleaning and fresh starts that we undertake every year at this time requires an intensive effort of self-examination and personal change, not the easier (and shallower) immersion in sweeping social movements.
For religious Jews and committed Christians, real change demands a commitment to God and His law, not just volunteer efforts for an inspiring politican. The very idea that government and politics can accomplish the work of spiritual renewal counts as a ludicrous insult, an obamanation. When it comes to the job of "fixing souls" or showing the way to lost sheep, the right response for any presidential candidate would be: "That's beyond my pay grade."
The leftwing tendency to view politics as a substitute for religion will properly worry more Americans than the right's habit of allowing faith commitments to impact political positions. It's true that social conservatives sometimes feel such fervent religious enthusiasm that we allow our faith to spill over into the political realm. On the other hand, liberals nurture the sort of political intensity and fervor that not only invades the religious domain but often takes the place of organized faith. Liberal denominations regularly describe their chief mission as "social justice" - meaning the agitation for redistributionist and activist government policies long advocated by the left. My friend, columnist Mona Charen, memorably described Reform Judaism (the most "progressive" branch of our ancient faith) as "nothing more than the Democratic Party with holidays."
If there's one message of this season's real holidays, it's that no movement, no political campaign, no public initiative can fill "holes in the soul" as effectively as nurturing a private relationship with the Creator. As Rabbi Daniel Lapin trenchantly observes, people will either worship "the big G" - God, or else they will worship "the little g"-government.
The adulation and embrace of government will undermine devotion to God, just as subservience and love for God will dilute the authority of government. That's why totalitarian systems of every sort distrust and suppress authentic religious faith.
This year, the month of October brings both political frenzy and religious reflection. In the dual spirit of this season, may we help to return the lost from their wandering and restore all broken souls, finding the strength and the insight to uphold the right "G." "
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