It’s Official, College Football 2013, Week One!

Woohoo, college football has arrived!  And, the Michigan State Spartans started their season with a resounding victory over the Broncos of Western Michigan.  Who knows what the season will hold for the Spartans, but they are returning a solid defense (should be one of the top-ten in the nation) and a quarterback that has some experience.  Hopefully the offense will show up this year to take some of the pressure off of the defense.  If this first game is any indication, it could be another long season of wondering if you are going score enough points to win.  But, so far so good, 1-0 . . . Go Green!

Meager, Indeed!

While salary/compensation is always a huge concern when job hunting, we hopefully choose our careers based upon our passions, skill sets, and aptitudes.  This is probably a good thing since the exiguity of compensation for many occupations is astounding.

exiquity

\ek-suh–GYOO–uht-ee\ , noun:

Scantiness; smallness; thinness; the quality of being meager.
–EXIGUOUS, adjective

I Am A {Social} Librarian!

Many thanks to Joe Murphy for tweeting this graphic yesterday.  And after reading the list, and pondering, I have come to the conclusion that yeah, I do all of this (some better than others)!

• I am a curator, creator, and promoter.
• I am an educator.
• I am a filter and connector.
• I am a facilitator and experimenter.
• I am a beacon.

I am {ready} . . . never underestimate the power of the {social} librarian.

Let’s Start At The Very Beginning!

Happy Wednesday!  Okay, here we are at the midway point of another week!  Congratulations, as we get over the hump and work our way toward the long Labor Day weekend.  Here is the flash mob that started it all . . . in a train station in Antwerp, Belgium . . . to the tune of “Do, Re, Mi” from The Sound of Music!  Simply phenomenal.  If this doesn’t put a smile on your face and boost your spirits, then I’m not sure what will.  Of course, I love musicals, and The Sound of Music ranks right up near the top as one of my favorites, so I may be a little biased in my expectation of what may or may not lift spirits, but I hope I’m right.    Ironically enough, I thought that I had already posted this one, but alas, after much searching, I’ve been unable to verify that I had.  So, here goes.  Enjoy!

Painting Without a Permit!

Earlier this month, in Portland, Oregon, a mural artist was stopped in the middle of painting his mural and told to paint over his work by the Portland police.  Despite having the permission of the owners of both buildings, the artist, Cannon Dill (from Oakland), was completely unaware that such murals require a permit in Portland.  Apparently getting the necessary permit takes a long time, and, it is not advertised well enough to outside artists (obviously).   Part of the mural permitting process includes:

• submitting three full-sized copies of the site plan (drawn to scale) and,
• hosting a neighborhood meeting (which must be advertised 21 days beforehand at the site of the proposed mural).

Hmm, I wonder if Mr. Dill will acquire the necessary permits to return and paint the mural “for real?”   I’m inclined to believe he will hopefully perform more extensive due diligence into local ordinances in the future.

Here’s a link to the full article.

Abandoned But Not Forgotten, Number Seventeen!

Here is an eerie and chilling photo (no pun intended) of a boat that got trapped in the ice before high winds and compression of the hull eventually caused the boat to sink.  Even though this one had been abandoned for nearly a year, the Brazilian research vessel, Mar Sem Fin, was raised and salvaged from Maxwell Bay of Ardley Cove, Antarctica (about 1,200 kilometers south of the tip of South America) earlier in 2013.  João Lara Mesquita was filming a documentary off the Antarctic coast when the incident occurred.

Photo courtesy of Ruslan Eliseev @ 35photo.ru

 

“The Virgin in Prayer!”

That’s the title of this wonderful painting by the 17th Century, Italian Baroque painter, Giovanni Battista Silva from Sassoferrato, Italy.  His full name was Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato and he was born on this date back in 1609.  There are over three hundred works by Sassoferrato in public collections throughout the world including almost all of his extant drawings in the British Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.  The British Royal Collection is huge (it contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolors and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical photographs, tapestries, furniture, ceramics, books, and other works of art.) and is distributed among thirteen different Royal residences (and former residences).  Now that’s an art collection!

That’s S’Mores!

As summer draws to a close, here’s a wonderful recipe to help you remember those summer evenings by the campfire . . . ah, could I have s’more, please?

S’MORE CUPS:
• 7 whole graham crackers, finely crushed
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 4 bars milk chocolate candy
• 12 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Place graham crackers into a large resealable plastic bag. Finely crush into crumbs. Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and butter in small bowl. Mix well with fork.

Place small scoop of crumb mixture in each cup of a mini-muffin pan. Press crumbs to form shallow cups. Bake 4-5 minutes or until edges are bubbling

While the crust is in the oven, break two of the candy bars into rectangles. Remove pan from oven; place one rectangle into each cup.

Cut marshmallows in half crosswise using shears dipped in cold water. Place one marshmallow half, cut-side down, into each cup. Return to oven 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows are just slightly softened. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan. Cool completely.

Break remaining candy bars and place in (1-cup) prep bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute-1 1/2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring every 20 seconds. Dip the top of each marshmallow in melted chocolate. Turn top-side up and let stand 40 minutes-1 hour or until set.

Yield: 24 cups
Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Yeah, right. Like they’ll last that long.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

College football, that is.  A week from today, the Michigan State Spartans kickoff their season at home against the Broncos of Western Michigan!  Coming off a season where five of their six losses came with four points or less, the Spartans are hungry to get back to their winning ways of a few years past.  And in a year where they will not have to face Ohio State, Penn State, or Wisconsin, the only hurdles seem to be Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Notre Dame (oh, is that all?).  Let the games begin.  Good luck Sparty!  And with the start of the college football season, you know that college basketball will not be far behind.  Go Green!

Is It Friday Yet?

No, but we are getting dangerously close to the weekend.  So here is some Thursday humor, my thanks go out to Marcie and Keith for sharing these “quips” with me at the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) Lodge Meeting last night.

“Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is faster and cheaper!!”
“You are about to exceed the limits of my medication.  Please leave.”

And from facebook (thanks Stephanie): “Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you.  Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.”  (Anonymous)

When considering these quips (two humorous and one a bit on the serious side), the word that came to mind was “venting.”  Being single, and not having a built-in significant other [in the form of a spouse or girlfriend] to “vent” to, I have always relied on whomever was handy and willing to listen.  And I have always considered venting to be a good option (as opposed to keeping the emotion all bottled up).  So I Googled “venting” and “benefit” and discovered an article written by Fritz Esker for Louisiana’s Health and Fitness Magazine entitled “The Benefits of Venting.”  One paragraph in particular really hit home and seemed “spot on” to me.  It was a response to the statement that “it could always be worse.”

“What’s so bad about telling someone ‘It could be worse?’  It’s not the worst thing to say to someone (pun partially intended), but it really is a lazy form of listening.  In many cases, what it means is the listener doesn’t want to have to hear about what’s frustrating the other person.  The person venting about their problems in all likelihood knows that it could be worse.  They’re not expecting you to have a magical piece of advice to instantly solve all of their problems.  They just want you to be a friend and listen.  Don’t think of ways in which you can get out of the conversation and don’t try to solve it like a riddle, just attentively listen.  Venting is necessary and healthy (emphasis added) and not something that needs be to be reserved only for instances where you have suffered some mind-boggling, disastrous loss that trumps the suffering of every single other individual in your vicinity.”

‘Nuff said!