I Choose to Begin

At the Window. Autumn. by Leonid Pasternak

I love all beginnings, despite their anxiousness and their uncertainty, which belong to every commencement. If I have earned a pleasure or a reward, or if I wish that something had not happened; if I doubt the worth of an experience and remain in my past--then I choose to begin at this very second.

     Begin what? I begin. I have already thus begun a thousand lives.

Early Journals

Daily Thoughts 12/31/2010 (Budget, ebooks)

Morning perusal, Antonio Parreiras, 1916

Daily Thoughts 12/31/2010 

The Mount Vernon city council adopted the new budget with a $500,000 cut for the library. There is a prediction that the building will be closed midyear.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20101231/NEWS02/12310324/Mount-Vernon-adopts-revised-2011-budget%20


On a personal level, this means I have to look for other options.  I am watching a slow descent for the library over the years.  There has been a pattern of continuous cuts in small amounts, as well as continuous underfunding.

http://bit.ly/hQLVh1
I am looking at the Certificate in Digital Publishing right now.  It seems like a very interesting course.

Web Bits

I spent some time looking at Google Books. http://books.google.com/books It did not impress me.  They probably could have a deeper taxonomy as well as better display technology.  I find it a little too simple looking.

Libre Digital is developing another social ecommerce platform for books.  Things are just starting in this arena.
https://www.skyshelf.com/skyshelf/control/skyshelf_AboutUs

I see a lot of large social commerce platforms for ebooks, but no specialty social platforms for ebooks.   I can see openings for smaller more focused specialty ecommerce social platforms for ebooks in specific genres.

I also found another aggregator of electronic information, http://www.bookriff.com which allows people to create their own book mashups.

Feliz 2011

O ano de 2010 foi muito bom, trabalhoso em excesso, mas já vejo que vou começar a colher os frutos em 2011, o que me enche de alegria e esperança.
Muitas vezes não consegui ser tão presente quanto eu queria, mas nesse segundo ano na blogosfera tive a real certeza de que é possível fazer grandes amizades virtuais e até sentir saudades de quem nunca vi pessoalmente. Conheci pessoas maravilhosas, aprendi muito e agradeço a todas vocês cada visita, cada recado, e principalmente o apoio que recebi em todos os momentos que precisei.
E, sem medo de errar, vou repetir exatamente a postagem que fiz um ano atrás:

Desejo a vocês:


SAÚDE:


DINHEIRO:


SENSIBILIDADE: Para não ficar indiferente diante das belezas da vida.


CORAGEM: Para colocar a timidez de lado e poder realizar o que se tem vontade.


SOLIDARIEDADE: Para não ficar neutro diante do sofrimento da humanidade.


BONDADE: Para não desviar os olhos de quem te pede ajuda.


TRANQUILIDADE: Para quando chegar ao fim do dia poder deitar e dormir o sono dos anjos.


ALEGRIA: Para você distribuí-la colocando um sorriso no rosto de alguém.

HUMILDADE: Pra você reconhecer aquilo o que você não é.

AMOR PRÓPRIO: Para você perceber suas qualidades e gostar do que vê por dentro.

FÉ: Para te guiar, te sustentar e te manter em pé.

SINCERIDADE: Pra você ser verdadeiro, gostar de você mesmo e viver melhor.


FELICIDADE: Para você descobrí-la dentro de você e doá-la a quem precisar.

ESPERANÇA: Para fazer você acreditar na vida e se sentir uma eterna criança.

SABEDORIA: Para lidar com todas as circunstâncias da vida



"Eu aprendi que não adianta a gente querer consertar o mundo. É melhor a gente consertar a gente mesmo. Ajuda pra caramba." - Renato Russo
A todas vocês, eu desejo que 2011 seja o melhor ano da vida de cada uma! Um ano de realizações e que daqui a um ano você possa olhar para trás e dizer que 2011 valeu à pena cada segundo!

Daily Thoughts 12/30/2010 (Kickstarter, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web)

Eigen scan uit Het doel der Vereeniging; afbeelding uit 1892 auteursrechtvrij.  I am not quite sure what it says, but I do like the image.


Daily Thoughts 12/30/2010

I tried to watch the original Planet of the Apes but just could not do it today.  The costumes somehow seemed a little bit dated.  The story is based on the novel, Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle.

I also could not get myself to read The Autiobiography of Mark Twain.  It was a little bit too much.

I also decided to not write any reviews today.  Sometimes, you need to not do things to keep it all in perspective.

Finally, I decided not to go to the final public session about the budget.  I think I will hear about it tomorrow.  I need a break from this stuff.  Hopefully, I'll have one until the new year starts.

I have been fooling a little bit looking on the web.  I rather like http://www.kickstarter.com/ , a lot of the small creative projects which are on it are publishing oriented.

I started reading Information Architecture for the World Wide Web , 3rd Edition by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld tonight.  It is about designing the information framework for large scale websites.  I think I need to learn a little bit more about website design both for content and structure.

Daily Thoughts 12/29/2010 (Letting Go Of Words, Get Glue, The Big Sleep, Advocacy)

Raymond Chandler http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raymond_chandler.jpg  


Daily Thoughts 12/29/2010

I read some more of Letting Go Of Words Writing Web Content That Works today.  It reminds us that websites are not a way to push out information.  They are designed primary to pull people in and provide the information they need.  There is another term that goes with pull.  This is the term stickiness.  In addition to pulling people in, a website should stick with the person and draw them in.  It should give them reasons to come back and use the site repeatedly.  You want your people to check in regularly to see what is new on the site.  An excellent example of this is http://www.getglue.com   The entire site is designed to stick and pull people in.  The site asks people to check-in, review, and explore.

I watched The Big Sleep today starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.  I enjoyed it even more than Casablanca.  The Big Sleep is based on the novel by Raymond Chandler.  It was a very enjoyable noir film.   One of the screenplays writers is Leigh Brackett who also helped write The Empire Strikes Back.  I like Leigh Bracketts science fiction; The  Sword of Rhiannon and The Hounds of Skaith.

Tonight, I am going back to go to the meeting for the vote on the budget for the city of Mount Vernon.  Hopefully, they will change things, but I am not that certain.  It is in city hall at 7 p.m..

I went to city hall tonight to see the public vote session on the budget.  A city council member told us that the public vote session was cancelled, we should go home.  It was originally announced  for today on Wednesday, December 29 for tonight at 7:00 p.m.  They are still having the discussion session tomorrow on December 30.

Several of my colleagues were there including the library director and a few people from the community.  The gentleman who ran the Mount Vernon Inquirer was there as well.

I also finished reading Letting Go of the Words on the train home.  I found some of the ideas to be quite interesting.  She talks about how splash pages and flash are generally detrimental.  I can agree on this completely.

12/28/2010 Mount Vernon Public LIbrary Advocacy

Laurits Andersen Ring, 1898, At Breakfast



Daily Thoughts 12/28/2010



There is an article today from the Mount Vernon Inquirer http://www.mvinquirer.com/  that covers the budget hearing last night.  It says people talked about the library going belly up.

There are numerous reasons for supporting public libraries.  These are the reasons for supporting the library from the New York Public Library website. http://www.nypl.org/support/why-support-new-york-public-library

• Keep our shelves filled with books and materials that are in high demand.

• Provide free computer access and Wi-Fi service at all of our 89 locations

• Make possible daily classes that teach New Yorkers basic computer skills, job search techniques, and reading skills

• Purchase items to add to our world-renowned research collections to advance scholarship

• Preserve fragile manuscripts and rare books that have been placed in our care

These same ideas provide an excellent core set of reasons to keep a library open.  There are some thoughts I would like to add to this.

People come in to check out our new material.  They also come for our special collections.  There is a job information center and a large business section.  This helps people find jobs and start businesses in Mount Vernon and Westchester county.  It also keeps the community informed.  There is also no bookstore in Mount Vernon where people can sit and read and purchase books. We are the defacto center for media in Mount Vernon.

We provide  free computer access and wifi to people who do not have access to this.  For poor people, it is important to have access to computers.  Many people cannot get government information except for through a computer or apply for jobs.  I have talked to several patrons who have come in specifically to search for jobs on the internet computers.  There are several people who use the wifi for their business tasks.  Having access to a laptop is enough for many computer people to work from anywhere where there is a wireless connection.  There is no cybercafe in Mount Vernon that I know of.

Mount Vernon Public Library has a literacy center run by Nancy Fitch who helps people to learn to read.  We also have a program called College to Careers which allows young people to work towards their GED and get college preparation.  We also support the schools for their reading assignments and maintain an extensive of classic material for school assignments ranging from Shakespeare to Huckleberry Finn to Pride and Prejudice.  This helps improve the literacy of the students in the schools in Mount Vernon.

On the weekend we have a computers for seniors class which helps seniors learn to use the computers in the computer lab.  We also have a job information center which provides material on how to apply for jobs, houses the listings for Westchester civil service openings, and has a career counselor who helps people get jobs.

Our collection includes a very extensive reference collection.  This includes a legal reference collection, a business reference collection, a government documents collection, a multicultural reference collection, a young adult and childrens reference collection, and numerous databases for the support of research.  Some of these databases also help find jobs like Learning Express.  In addition to the reference collections we maintain special collections for the job information center, foreign language material, periodicals room, parenting material, and an extensive new materials display.

Our library houses the local history collection for Mount Vernon, there is also a separate collection for Westchester history in the mezzanine. We also have the Daily Argus on microfilm which is the local paper going to back to the 19th century.  This is used extensively for genealogy.   In addition, we have a very large collection of oversize books, many of these are out of print or rare art books.  We have been the last copy collection for the last 100 years for the Westchester Library System.  This means we have an extensive amount of 19th century books in our mezzanine storage area which are not available anywhere else.

These are all reasons to support the Mount Vernon Public Library.

Para 2011 eu prometo...

Acabei de traçar as minhas metas e já corri aqui para contar para vocês. Decidi por traçar 5 metas, que irão me tomar bastante tempo, porque cada uma delas envolve outras tantas, mas com um pouquinho de esforço dá pra fazer.
Curiosa, então vamos lá:



1 - Organizar minha casa e meu tempo. Quero assistir mais filmes com os meninos, ouvir mais músicas, ler, jogar baralho, voltar a escrever um diário, ter mais tempo livre para eles e para mim. Sem contar que é dessa organização que vem a base para as outras metas.













2 - Criar hábitos mais saudáveis: Me alimentar melhor, dar um jeito de fazer algum exercício físico, usar protetor solar...










3 - Terminar todos os projetos que eu já comecei: o armário da parede, os cadernos de receitas, os quadrinhos, o armário da cozinha, minhas cadernetas, as botas de Natal (mesmo que seja só para o fim do ano), os organizadores, os panos de prato, a organização do escritório, montar os álbuns de fotografia...

4 - Reorganizar o blog e aprender a usar as ferramentas que já estão disponíveis.

5 - Aprender a fazer tudo aquilo o que eu tenho sentido falta no meu dia a dia, como me maquiar e pintar móveis.





E aí, aceita o desafio? Faz a lista do que você promete para 2011 e manda o link que eu posto aqui.

Elección

Hace unos meses elegí,  lo sentí, .. mi elección está en mi corazón.. 

Elegí ser feliz.

desde el corazón está mi camino, 

pasos hacia un nuevo año, respirando....viviendo !! 

Ano Novo, Vida Nova, Lista Nova

O ano está terminando e venceu o prazo de todas aquelas promessas que você fez na virada para 2010. E nem pense em me dizer que não fez, porque definitivamente eu não vou acreditar!
Mas, como já vem um novo ano por aí, é hora de refazer a nossa listinha de promessas.
Esse ano eu resolvi fazer de uma forma diferente: colocar tudo no papel e fixar em um lugar que eu veja diariamente.
Assim que a minha lista estiver prontinha, mostro para vocês.

Por enquanto, só defini o layout: Como título, o lembrete: PROMESSA É DÍVIDA!
 Uma forma "suave" de me cobrar.


E você, já fez suas promessas de fim de ano? Cumpriu alguma do ano passado? Conte-me tudo e não me esconda nada!

Daily Thoughts 12/28/2010 (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, budget)

Bookplate for the Canadiana collection at the Toronto Public Library, 1914


Daily Thoughts 12/28/2010


I  am reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Right now, I am heading out to the budget hearing for the City of Mount Vernon.   I finished it on the way to the city budget hearing.

I went to the budget hearing for the City of Mount Vernon tonight.  Not one of the public spoke in favor of the proposed budget.  It would be a disaster for the library.  We would be cut $500,000.  Last years budget was $4 million dollars. The vice president of the board of directors for the library spoke and said that we would be in dire shape and would most likely run out of funds by midyear.  There might be staggered layoffs.

We had a number of people speak in favor of the library.  Some suggested that we might need a change in how decisions are made.

I usually don't speak.  This time, I did.  I said that the cuts in funding are leading to cuts in services to the library.  Less people are available to help people and we are now closed one day a week.  There is now one person serving at the reference desk most of the time.  There is also often one person covering the circulation desk.

Without more funding, we could also lose our status as the central library for Westchester county.  This loss of central status would lead to further cuts, we would no longer receive extra money for material and databases as the central library.

 A lot of our material was purchased with central library funds.  If another library takes on central library status, they can claim the material that was purchased with central library monies.  This could affect our law collection, our job information center, our foreign language collection, our reference collection, and some other parts of the nonfiction collection.

It was imperative to reconsider how the library was being funded.  Grants would not cover a $500,000 cut in budget for a single building.

Note:  We are part of a library cooperative.  Each member library is funded separately by the city they are part of.  We pay money to share resources through the Westchester Library System for interlibrary loan, reserves, cataloging, an integrated library system, computer purchases, internet access, and other technology resources.  In our case, the central status gives us specific responsibility and extra funds to serve the county through CLDA (Central Library Development Aide) which is administrated by the New York State Library http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/clda/index.html.

It is also important to understand that there is another $350,000 being charged against the library for retroactive pay that was put into effect in 2010.  This is a statement from the board of trustees.  http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/210

Um Natal cheio de alegria, com uma pontinha de tristeza

Olá meninas!

Eu tinha planejado desejar Feliz Natal a cada uma de vocês e deixar um post com uma mensagem aqui no blog. Mas quem me acompanha já deve ter percebido que normalmente as coisas não saem bem como eu planejo... E desta vez não foi diferente!

Lembra que eu falei que iria para a casa do meu tio? Então, fomos pra lá. A casa dele é uma delícia! Um pequeno sítio em um condomínio fechado, cheio de casas lindas, muito verde e pertinho de Belo Horizonte, em meia hora dá pra estar no Shopping.

O condominio é lindo, cheio de casas maravilhosas,  que só o medo de ser questionada me impediu de sair fotografando tudo.

Casa cheia, família reunida, muita comida e bebida, presentes, crianças na piscina, um pouco de violão, aquela farra de piadinhas cutucando um e outro. 

Tudo perfeito, não fosse a Alessandra, sobrinha mais velha da esposa do meu tio e afilhada deles. Dois dias antes do Natal ela, que só tem 28 anos, sofreu um AVC. No dia 24 ela já estava no quarto, o que permitiu que todos comemorassem o Natal com alegria, mas no dia 25 à noite, Alessandra voltou para o CTI e com um quadro clínico bastante complicado. Foi ali que acabou a festa, paramos o churrasco e nos reunimos em oração. Meia hora depois, veio a notícia que ela já começava a reagir à medicação.  Agora seu quadro já está estável e parece que o pior já passou, mas ela ainda está em observação no CTI.

Agora começa a contagem regressiva para receber 2011. Hora de fazer "aquela listinha de promessas de fim de ano", e desejar que este ano finalmente elas sejam cumpridas.

Alê, força pra você! Vou ficar torcendo pra você comemorar o Ano Novo em casa.

Agora deixa eu retomar minhas visitas porque eu fiquei em falta com muita gente!

Beijos

Daily Thoughts 12/27/2010 (Budget, Girl With Dragon Tattoo)

Soviet 1-ruble coin (reverse side), released in the USSR on September 17, 1987 to commemorate 130th anniversary of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's birth. The foreground shows Tsiolkovsky's sculpture, which is a fragment of the To the Conquerors of Space monument in Moscow (1964), and the background shows a flying rocket, stars and satellites' orbits.  He is best known for his 1903 work The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices



Daily Thoughts 12/27/2010 


I started reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson last night in addition to Letting Go of Words.  I am planning on catching up on my popular reading.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is quite enjoyable.  It draws you in slowly and becomes more and more gripping as you read the story.

The Alternative Budget is up on the city website.  It leaves the $500,000 cut in place for the library which would very likely shut the Mount Vernon Public Library down. http://cmvny.com/lg-fd/public-notice/2011AlternativeBudget.pdf

I plan on going to the budget meeting tomorrow.  It feels like a kind of last stand.  But, at least I know I've done everything I can on my part.


Web Bits


I like the idea that the movie publicity people bought books in bulk then shipped them to different people to make True Grit a bestseller.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/true-gumption-the-making-of-a-best-seller/?src=twrhp

A Great Festive Season to Everyone!

I hope everyone out there had the most wonderful Christmas ever!  Whatever you did, I hope you did it well.

Here in Sunny SA we lunched next to the water wearing our cut-off jeans and t-shirts and didn't envy anyone in the Northern Hemisphere AT ALL!  What dreadful weather you guys up there are having - all those airplanes being grounded and just before Christmas as well!  All we see are pictures of snow and more snow!  So here's a picture of the Father Christmas who visited us - (it's actually our friend Dawne, but who cares, we had a good laugh!)

And despite the fact that I haven't been blogging or computing very much, I have done a couple of paintings.  I get up really early (5am), take the dogs for their walk, feed the birds (and the dogs) and then get into the studio for a couple of hours before it gets too hot.   This I did over a few days that way.  It's of a gorgeous young lady who lives in Sweden.  Her name is Sophie and if she sees it, I hope she likes it.

By then it's too hot and after pottering in the garden, it's time to watch cricket!  Yes, Summertime is Cricket Time!  Love it.  And for all my Indian friends out there, my small tribute to one of the greatest cricketers in the World!

Sachin Tendulkar

Echo An Alex Benedict Novel by Jack McDevitt

Echo An Alex Benedict Novel by Jack McDevitt




Echo is part of a series of novels featuring Alex Benedict, a recoverer of antiquities in the far future. In this novel, Alex Benedict is following the trail of an inscription written in stone which is part of no known human language. The inscription makes for an excellent gimmick.



The characterization is better than his earlier novels. I especially liked Sunset Tuttle, an explorer seeking alien civilizations for philosophical reasons. He creates an excellent back story for the book.



Alex Benedict's adversaries are more tragic than evil. The novel is more about how mistakes can lead to horrific consequences. The one exception is the sociopathic assassin bent on killing Chase Kolpath and Alex Benedict. However, the assassin is more subtle and devious than a brutish adversary.



This novel successfully combines mystery, exploration, archaeology, and suspense into a superb science fiction novel. It is the fifth in the Alex Benedict series. The third novel in the series, Seeker, won the Nebula Award.

Daily Thoughts 12/26/2010 (Letting Go of Words)

Writing My Master’s Words (detail), Alighieri Dante: "La Vita Nuova (The New Life)" (1910)

 Daily Thoughts 12/26/2010

I am reading Letting Go of the Words Writing Web Content That Works by Janice (Ginny) Redish.  There is an introduction by Steve Krug who wrote Don't Make Me Think.  It is about user centered design and writing for web pages.

It is snowing outside very heavily.  I had just enough time to go grocery shopping today, but then came home and found a blizzard outside.  I took some time to read CEO Reads and enter their holiday grab bag contest.  I also am looking through the blog roll on Powell's blog.  It should be interesting.

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2010 (net profits, SEO, jack mcdevitt, echo, social media, library budget)

Houghton Mifflin and Company’s Holiday Books for MDCCCXCV, 1895, Chromoltihograph.  This is one of the few images that I have chosen to use more than once.

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2010

During the last week we've watched The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg several times.   It is an excellent christmas movie.  It is a break from watching Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. I really enjoyed the Polar Express.  It is also a childrens book which is very beautifully illustrated.  I am also fond of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi which is very beauftiful.  Chris Van Allsburg has a nicely illustrated website
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/polarexpress.html


I have been reading more of Net Profits by David Soskin.  He is writing about how he opened his company in the United Kingdom and then expanded into Canada, the United States, and Europe. There is a lot to think about here.

I also read Jack McDevitt, Echo  which is a mix of archaeological science fiction, mystery, and disaster story.  It is a very complex story with lots of twists, turns, and skulduggery.

The week has been very relaxing.  I also watched something pretty mindless but entertaining, the series, Wolverine and the Xmen on dvd.  It is not Marvel's best stuff, but I enjoyed it.  The original Xmen series is much better.

The budget issue with the library has not ended.  There is going to be a revised budget announced on Monday, December 27, 2010, and a hearing on Tuesday December 28, 2010 about the budget.  If you are interested in the library please attend.  http://www.lohud.com/article/20101225/NEWS02/12250324/Mount-Vernon-sets-hearing-on-86-8M-spending-plan 

Web Bits

I have also been thinking of free SEO tools. It is a way to review free methods of search engine marketing.

There is Addme, which is a free tool which submits to 20 engines.

http://www.addme.com 

There is also Google Pagerank Checker

http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Google Adwords has a free keyword analysis tool.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal free keyword analysis

Statcounter is a fairly reliable hit counter that is free.

http://statcounter.com/why_is_it_free.html

There is also Google Webmaster Tools which allows you to have free analyics.

www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html  

This is an automatic link checker which allows you to determine if you have broken links on your site.

The other thing which I am thinking of is social media campaigns.

There are the big three; Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.  Depending on what I am thinking about in the near future with something more oriented towards books, there would also be Book Blogs on Ning, and a blog associated with various book sites.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB#10

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2010 (Ebooks, Net Profits)

WPA Poster.

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2010

Coverage of an ebook unconference. I found this going through the Digital Book World Conference site   Digital Book World is on January 24-26, 2010. http://dbw2011.digitalbookworld.com/

Description of an ebook unconference.
http://wegrowmedia.com/lessons-from-an-unconference-book-camp-nyc/

Today, I am on vacation.  It has been a very relaxed day.  I read some more of Net Profits and relaxed a lot. Net Profits had some interesting material on selecting keywords, creating metatags, and search engine optimization.  It talked about how it was necessary to take full advantage of both adwords and other pay per click systems for business.

There is more than one conference which I would like to attend, The Tools of Change Conference and the Digital Book World are both in New York.  I can't go to everything which I would like because of expenses and time.

Right now, I am looking over my options.  I will know next week what has happened in terms of layoffs.  I have some indications that more people will be laid off. Quite frankly, it does not look very pleasant.

Feliz Navidad

Que la Luz de esta Navidad 

y la Esperanza que trae el Nuevo Año

llene de Amor tu Corazón

Daily Thoughts 12/23/2010 (Advocacy, Net Profits)

Per Eskilson 1820-1872, Reading Loud, 1856, Oil On Canvas

Daily Thoughts 12/23/2010


I tried to read more of Unmarketing by Scott Stratten this morning.  However, it became too fluffy.  The point where I felt that I had to put the book down is when Scott Stratten started writing about the difference in flavor between McDonald's coffee and Tim Hortons coffee.  It just did not fit well with my thought processes.  I have started reading Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin who was the CEO of Cheapflights which is a British company.

This morning, I spent time talking to a patron about the library and also talked to the Friends of the Library about how to send in the form letter to our city council representatives.  I have been following everything very closely.  I am hoping things will turn out differently than I expect they will.

 http://www.voteyesforourlibrary.org/Westchester_Advocacy/index.php?library=Mount+Vernon+Public+Library

I also checked the displays and did some spot checking for the shelves.

One of my colleagues recommended that I read True Grit by Charles Portis.  The film by the Coen brothers looks very good.

I started reading Net Profit on the way home from work.  It is different because the author is a British author.  He does not recommend you go open source and reminds you to protect your intellectual property.  He also does not hype social media.  He focuses more on usability and design than marketing.  An excellent, usuable website is the foundation of a successful internet business.

I am on vacation starting tomorrow which will be a nice break.

Daily Thoughts 12/22/2010 (Locus, Advocacy)

Woman Reading a Lette, Gerard ter Borch, 1660-1662


Daily Thoughts 12/22/2010 

This morning, I finished reading Keith Richards, Life. It was a very enjoyable autobiography.  I have started reading Unmarketing: Stop Marketing.  Start Engaging. by Scott Stratten.  So far, it is focused on creating relationships through social media.  It starts with the big three; Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.  A colleague asked for Keith Richards, Life so it is moving on to one of my colleagues.  It is an excellent book.

This is the City of Mount Vernon information from the Mayor Clinton Young's who is talking with Comptroller Maureen Walker on the budget. http://www.mvinquirer.com/mayor_young_assails_city_comptro.htm

Locus Magazine just launched a digital edition for its magazine.
http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=934

Welcome to A Year with Rilke

Sketch of Rilke, by Leonid Osipovic Pasternak

Daily posts will begin January 1, 2011. We hope you will enjoy Rilke's words with us.

Daily Thoughts 12/21/2010 (Keith Richards, Life, Library)

Wilhelm Menzler (1846–1926): Ein Plausch im Park. Signiert. Öl/Lwd., 65 x 50 cm, 1918

Daily Thoughts 12/21/2010

I checked the displays this morning. I also spot checked the shelves.  I might try and do a job search hour for job boards on the internet as a program for the library patrons.

I also spent some time reading Booklist and Publishers Weekly.  Hopefully, it will keep us ready for when we start ordering again.  There is always hope.

I also spent some time talking to the Friends of the Library about all the different articles on websites from the Mount Vernon Library Website to the Mount Vernon Inquirer to the Westchester Journal news.

This is a link to the talk which Keith Richards gave at New York Public Library about his book Life on October 29, 2010.  It is one of the reasons I am reading this book.
http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/keith-richards-conversation-anthony-decurtis

Notice of Open Trustee Positions, Mount Vernon Public Library
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/200

Solsticio invierno, luna llena, eclipse de luna, entrada de la Navidad

Hoy es un gran día, con el solsticio de invierno nos llega la entrada de la Navidad.

Els solsticio se junta con la luna llena y con un eclipse total de la luna... un regalo energético de renovación. 

Es un buen momento para dar gracias, para desacernos de lo que ya no nos sirve, material y no material, buen día para establecer nuestras intenciones, para escribir nuestra lista de deseos y tratar este solsticio como el verdadero comienzo de un nuevo año.

Acordei, vou ter que fazer uma pausa!

Olá meninas,
Bom, o tempo correu e eu, mesmo ainda sem ter encarnado "aquele" espírito de Natal, já me dei conta de que faltam pouquíssimos dias, então tenho que correr contra o tempo. Não comprei presentes, não preparei nada, nem planejei minha viagem de ida para a casa do meu tio, onde iremos nos reunir esse ano.
E com o tempo se esgotando, eu trabalhando 10 horas por dia e com dois aborrecentes de férias, talvez não consiga mais fazer postagens. Prefiro dedicar esse tempo a pelo menos tentar fazer uma visitinha a cada uma de vocês para desejar um Feliz Natal.
Espero que não me abandonem!
E prepara o bolo e o café que qualquer hora eu apareço por aí!
Beijos!

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2010 (With A Little Help, Life, Keith Richards, Ebooks)

Lesender Mann beim Lampenlicht (Man Reading by Lamplight), 1814 Georg Friedrich Kersting, Oil On Canvas

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2010

I am finishing weeding my section in the oversize books.  I'll probably start weeding in the storage area or mezzanine as we call it.  As always, I checked the displays to make sure they were in order and read some newsletters on publishing in my inbox in email.  The newsletters give me heads up on what is being talked about in the media for books, especially Shelf Awareness and the Ingram alerts.

I am thinking of reading the e-book version of With A Little Help by Cory Doctorow.  http://craphound.com/walh/e-book/browse-all-versions  Right now, I have a little bit too much to read.  I have a pile on my desk, and a bag at home of books which I have not read yet.


Our library system has added the ability to download public domain ebooks from Project Gutenberg in alliance with Overdrive.  This means most of the classics will be available as ebooks in our library system. http://westchester.lib.overdrive.com/33558BCD-6444-4CFB-B6B6-07B23E6051B5/10/411/en/PublicDomainCollection.htm

Library Value Calculator from Mount Vernon Public Library
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/212

On the way home, I read a little bit more of Keith Richards autobiography Life.  There is a very steady rhythm to the writing almost like the steady movement of a train.  It is very smooth.  At times, it can abruptly pick up speed especially when the writer is talking about violence or sex.  There is sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but there is also violence, guns, lawyers, and a strong streak of anti-establishment behavior and actions.  We learn about the Rolling Stones global network of lawyers and how they were expelled from one country after another during the 1960s.

Some things surprised me.  Right now, I am reading about Keith Richards spending time in Jamaica with the Rastafarians.  It is more than a little over the top.  The pace can be relentless.  Keith Richards describes times where he doesn't sleep for days.  This is not for people who don't want to be shocked.  At the same time it is shockingly libertine, it is also full of life and music.

This is an article from the London Times, Its Only Books N' Shelves But I Like It.  Keith Richards makes the claim that he loves reading in this article.  In a couple of other articles he also visited New York Public Library.  In the book Life, he also describes reading history books several times and lending them to people.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7086815.ece

Web Bits

Zen and the Art of Self Publishing by Cory Doctorow
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/45565-zen-and-the-art-of-self-publishing.html

The Future According to Tim O'Reilly
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/10/the-future-according-to-tim-o-reilly.html

For the record, I am a fan of both Cory Doctorow's and Tim O'Reilly's articles on publishing and copyright.

Behemoth by Scott Westerfield Illustrated by Keith Thompson

Behemoth by Scott Westerfield Illustrated by Keith Thompson

Behemoth is a mixture of alternate history and steampunk written for young adults.  It is the second book in the Leviathan trilogy.  The title Leviathan in the first book refers to a giant living airship.  Leviathan won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel. I think it is quite readable for adults as well.

The setting in this part of the series is an alternate history Ottoman Empire.  There are ornate clockwork mechanical walkers and intricate steam powered machines.  The year is 1914.  In this world, the English and Russians are Darwinists masters of genetically engineered beasts and the Germans and Ottomans are Clankers makers of complex clockwork machinery.  I like that in this world, the Americans do both.

This makes for wonderfully ornate illustrations by Keith Thompson.  His website has some of the art from Behemoth http://www.keiththompsonart.com/ The illustrations are wonderfully ornate in black in white with touches of Victoriana, Art Deco, and even Middle Eastern motifs.

The reader encounters living airships, articulated steam elephants, a steampunk library, and an alternate Orient Express.  This transports you to a very different world.  The descriptions are inventive and eloquent.  We get to imagine Iron Golems in the Jewish quarters of Istanbul, fallen nobility in grand hotels, and an air of revolutionary change.

There is constant action, intrigue, hair raising escapes, and suspense.  Tension is created between the main characters; a young woman posing as a boy to serve in the English air corps, and an aristocratic German who is trying to pass himself off as a commoner.

The design of the book is superb; it is set in Hoefler text.  The line spacing and layout are very easy on the eyes.  The jacket design and photo illustration are by Sammy Yuen, Jr.

This is highly recommended, especially for people who read steampunk or atlernate history.

Daily Thoughts 12/19/2010 (First Break All The Rules, Unmarketing)

“Dig” / Sadie Wendell Mitchell. 1909. LC-DIG-ppmsca-15753, Found on:
http://imagespublicdomain.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/reading/


Daily Thoughts 12/19/2010

I read a little bit more of First Break All The Rules. I also put Unmarketing : stop marketing. Start engaging by Scott Stratten on hold.  It is about viral marketing and other word of mouth techniques.

While I was at the laundromat, I rewrote my review of Behemoth by Scott Westerfield.  I had written it last week, but was not satisfied, so I rewrote it this week.  This is one of the first times, I have not just put something out immediately for people to read.


I am still thinking about ebooks.  I am also thinking about the Meetups which I went to.  I remember some advice I received from Ron Suarez from Loud Feed while I was at the Content Strategy Holiday Party on Thursday December 9, 2010 at Eight Mile Creek about starting something new.  He told me that I should not try and do something on the bleeding edge, find something you can do and start while you still have a job.  Make sure you are not the first one doing it.  Find a niche which people really need.  It has to be a need.


The other piece of advice which I received was from Peter Chislett one of the founders of the New York Coworking Community at Tech Drinks XXMas.  It was to dig deep and find something that you really like doing.  Find something you can identify with that you know, focus on something where you can show your knowledge and use that to generate what people want.


I have found the meetups to be very interesting. They are a very good way to network and talk to people.  A number of the meetups have been about learning something.  The Future of Digital Books at New Work City was fantastic.

It is also an excellent way to meet people in your profession.  I met a number of people in the New York Librarians Meetup.  They gave me the impetus for methods to speak up for libraries.  I learned a lot from them.  They helped me understand groups like http://www.ilovelibraries.org and http://www.savelibraries.org
They also helped me start building connections through Linked In and Facebook which are steadily growing into a network.  It helped me understand social networking much better where people were there that you met face to face, not just through an online connection.  It also helped me understand Twitter as a communication tool, more than just a marketing tool.

Receta de Navidad

INGREDIENTES para una familia:

- 1kg de Ilusión
- 1kg de Comprensión.
- 2kg de Paciencia
- 5kg de Interés
- 1 buen chorrito de imaginación
- Mucho, Mucho Amor .. sin medida

PREPARACIÓN:

Colocar todos los ingredientes en la batidora, se pasa la mezcla a un molde apropiado y se cuece a fuego muy lento y listo para servir.

*Ofrecerla a todos vuestros seres queridos. No cuesta nada, muy sencillo y no lleva calorías y siempre resulta muy digestiva.

¡BUEN PROVECHO!

Treinta y tantos

 soy Yo y me siento Feliz

Feliz Cumpleaños

Per Molts Anys 

A boa vida do interior

Não é segredo pra ninguém que eu amo uma cidade grande, o barulho do trânsito e toda aquela agitação. E a maior de todas as vantagens: o anonimato!  Aquela coisa de sair e ninguém reparar no que você está fazendo, falando ou vestindo, simplesmente porque você é só mais um qualquer no meio da multidão.
E aí que hoje me deparo com algumas situações que só são possíveis em cidade micro:
1 - Meu filho estava reclamando do colchão dele e eu sem tempo para sair. Qual a forma mais simples de resolver? Ligo pra loja e pergunto: "Raquel, dá uma olhadinha pra mim na especificação de um colchão que eu comprei em julho, é da marca tal e custou tanto." Ela olha, fala que tem e que continua o mesmo preço. Pedi que ela mandasse pra mim o colchão e depois de 5 minutos o filho dela veio entregar. O pagamento? Daqui a 7 dias eu passo lá e pago o mesmo valor do pagamento à vista.
2 - Passei no supermercado e comprei algumas coisinhas. E daí? Isso é igual em todo lugar. Foi isso o que você pensou, certo? Quero ver você deixar o carrinho perto do caixa e só avisar "esse aqui é meu, viu?". Aí eles passam a compra, anotam na sua conta e levam na sua casa. Como eu também fui à farmácia, o rapaz do supermercado chegou lá em casa antes de mim. Então ele completou o serviço: guardou tudo na geladeira!
3 - Amanhã é a "festa" de confraternização da loja. Encomendei a carne, que já vem temperada. Mas e a quantidade de carvão? É só pedir a mais, e se sobrar devolve.
4 - Detesto escolher roupa com a vendedora da loja falando que tudo é lindo, gosto mesmo é de experimentar em casa, com calma, olhando o meu espelho da verdade, aquele que vou ter que encarar na hora de sair de casa. Hoje eu ainda tenho a missão de comprar algo para usar amanhã. Vou ter que percorrer as lojas, escolher as peças que me agradarem, aí trago tudo pra casa e devolvo na segunda o que eu não ficar.

Agora me diz: Onde é que eu vou achar tanto conforto? Sem contar na entrega gratuita da padaria, do açougue, do supermercado... Acho que é por isso que marido detesta sair daqui!