A Wandering Eyre

I know this salutation is a few days early, but tomorrow morning the Rochester household is packing into the new car and heading for the annual festivities at my family’s lake house. There is, of course, no toobes, and thus no posts in this space for a few days. Please contain your sorrow. There is no crying on the internets.

At the moment, we are watching the Holiday Bowl, which is in the 3rd quarter, and the Aggies are not doing as well as I would have hoped. We did just recover a fumble however, so maybe the fates will turn to favor us. Nope, it was a touchdown for Cal. Poo.

My resolution for 2007: I will strive to make things happen at MPOW and in my life in general. Less talkie more fetchie. A little more action with less stress. Wish me luck.

Many blessings to all of you in the New Year. I will toast my friends at midnight and wish you well.

–Jane, its going to be a great year

Meredith’s latest post discusses user experiences that suck and those that really suck. I have a Dyson vacuum that I love.  Meredith ends her post asking how much our users put up with before they leave for greener fields and which company we would want to be like.

I want to know how we get users back after they have given up because I believe that the difficulty of our systems drive many of our users away. One of the tenets of Library 2.0 is going where the users are. Do we make our systems not only easy to use but also easy to find? Are our catalogs hid behind many clicks and contain so many options that a user quickly becomes overwhelmed? Do we hide articles behind words like database or index?

I actually never thought about the word “database” until the ALA Web Planning Retreat. I explain database over and over and over at MPOW. How many times have you done it? It is especially hard for younger users who do not even have the concept of an index with which to compare it.

Many libraries have come up with novel (haha, novel) ways to reach people using all kinds of tools. I wonder what tools will emerge in 2007 that can make an impact on what we do everyday?

–Jane, should stop typing and pay more attention to the football game

I was tagged by my buddy Dave who makes me smile every time I think about him.

Five things you did not previously know about Jane:

1. When I was in Kindergarten, I always played with the boys because they were more fun than the girls. We played Star Wars on the jungle gym and I was Princess Leia. As a grown up, I still have a lot of guy friends.
2. I can drink a pitcher of beer in 47 seconds, but I will not repeat or try to duplicate this feat (though I can still drink pretty fast). It was completed to dunk my Aggie Ring. At the time, it was the best time out of all my guy friends, including Mr. Rochester, and I will never, ever let them forget it. 47 seconds. Mwahahahaaa.
3. I think Bette Davis played the most entertaining bitches on screen.
4. I believe that God has a plan for everyone.
5. Sometimes, I want to get in my car and keep on driving until I get to Colorado. Once there, I will find a little stream beside which to put up a tent and stay for days. There is no place on earth which I have felt more at peace.

I am woefully behind on my Bloglines, so I have no idea who has done this yet. If you have not been tagged and would like to be, then I tag you. Go!

–Jane, sitting at the ref desk

New Car

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

The Rochester household has a new set of wheels, a blue Toyota Sequoia. It has more buttons then I have ever seen in one vehicle. We needed something big enough for us, the large dog (read house horse), and all the crap we are continually dragging around with us.

It will get its first real outing when it goes the the family lake house this weekend for the New Year’s festivities.

–Jane, loves the new car smell

Merry Christmas

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

I hope everyone is well this day and having a day filled with family, friends, food, and drink. In my family, there will be a crowd of people, kids everywhere, food for all, and adult beverages aplenty. It should be very diverting and loud.

Merry Christmas!

–Jane and the rest of the Rochester household, very good this year

I will have a post about the ALA Web Planning Retreat tomorrow afternoon. I needed time to digest a bit and then there is always the pesky work that gets in the way. Here are some bits to tide you over, all having nothing to do with ALA:

• I finally finished A Storm of Swords. Geez. It only took me a year, off and on. And I promptly went on a reading binge. Three books later, I am feeling a bit better.
• I made kolaches.
• Cleaned my house.
• Participated in a Festivus Party, complete with metal pole and Bagels.
• Bought the last gift on my list.

Tonight, I am leaving Mr. Rochester to fend for himself, dropping my menagerie off at my parent’s, and joining some old friends for what should be a night of much laughter and unrepeatable stories. With drinking, of course!

Friday, I am making more kolaches, a molasses ginger cake with vanilla whipped cream (the real kind), and writing up my ALA notes. Good Times.

–Jane, Merry Jeebusmas

NASA and Google are going to start collaborating on a whole slew of projects. Very Cool.

–Jane, lives in NASA country

Michigan Ave.

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

I arrived in Chicago last night and was greeted by beautiful lights all over the city. I love Christmas lights.

My first stop was Edwardo’s Natural Pizza. I had the special, stuffed. It was magical. Mmmm Pizza.

This morning I am off to ALA HQ where we are going to dream big about the web site. Wish us luck!

–Jane, she’s a dreamer

IMG_3299

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

My brother graduated from Texas A&M on Friday. Saturday, we had the traditional family party filled with laughter, ribbing, and a lot of beer. At least this time, there was no Canadian Mist being passed around.

Congrats, little brother.

–Jane, stayed up too late

How is that for a job title? The Emergent Technologies Librarian is a new job open at the Eastern Michigan University Library. This would be a wonderful position for someone who wanted to get their hands in the thick of Library 2.0.

From the posting:

The Eastern Michigan University Library seeks a proactive, creative, service-oriented individual to play a key role on its Information Services Team. The Emergent Technologies Librarian will serve as an explorer of and advocate for the use of emergent technologies to support online learning and enhance the effectiveness of library information and instructional services . The Emergent Technologies librarian will coordinate virtual/chat reference initiatives and provide scheduled reference assistance (face-to-face, email, telephone, virtual/chat).

Thanks to the mad strategerist for the heads up.

–Jane, what a job title indeed