And we’ll finally be in Dublin.  Not sure if I’ll have the chance to blog while I’m across the pond.  If not, I’ll talk to you all in a couple of weeks!

At this time next week, I will be wandering around Dublin - hopefully with my luggage and sanity intact.

My hubby was experimenting with a new toy that we bought for our trip to Ireland (is it possible that we’re leaving next week??).  Here are the results…

Do you ever have one of those crazy, hectic weeks that make you appreciate the normal craziness in your life?  That was my week last week.  We decided to try a book club discussion group at my college this semester and our first meetings took place last week.  Oh, and they were open to the public.  Which meant that I had to reserve a room where we could meet.  And have it catered by our campus catering group.  Which proved to be more difficult than I expected due to the fact that the catering manager was nearly impossible to reach.  And, as I found out a few days beforehand, provide signage so people could actually find the room where we were meeting.  Which proved to be more difficult than I expected due to the fact that no department would actually admit that they owned the signage until the morning of the first meeting.  And after all of that, we only had two students show up on the first day and three students show up on the second day.  Although I don’t know that the third student actually counted because he was an international student who didn’t understand that he was supposed to read the book before we met to discuss it and so he spent the entire discussion time reading the book starting from page one.  The discussions actually ended up being interesting even with our small groups, but as I told my boss about my offering to coordinate these events next semester… Never. Again.

On top of the book club discussion group meetings last week, I gave the welcome speech at our Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony.  Of course, I didn’t have time to write the speech until the night before the ceremony.  And I only discovered a few days beforehand that the ceremony also included a separate honors convocation ceremony that I had to include in my speech.  Thankfully I managed to pull together an ok speech before the event.

The week also included a 4.2 mile walk for Pat’s Run with Melanie.

Oh, and I was presented with an outstanding staff award at work. 

So while it was an exhausting week, it certainly wasn’t a bad one!

I’ve been enjoying my 15 minutes of local fame at work (What’s this in my hand?  Oh, silly me, it’s the Sunday Dispatch).  But there’s always an event that’s waiting to bring you back down to Earth.  As I was driving home last night, I was behind a big work truck.  The back of it was full of large containers.  (I just realized the direction it sounds like this is going in and I will say that nothing bad happens.  There wasn’t an accident and the Yarn Mobile and I are intact.  Continue breathing.) 

Anyhoo, I’m listening to In the Air Tonight on the radio and, in my usual winding-down-from-a-long-day-at-work way, am singing along.  Emphatically.  And, um, there might have been some one-handed air drumming taking place.  My memory gets a little fuzzy on the exact details.  Then it hits me.  (No, not the truck.  Remember?  I said that there wasn’t any accident).  What happens is that I realize that in the back of the truck, amongst the large containers, is a man.  A man that is staring straight at me.  I’m the biggest dork.  Ever.

Edited to add: For those of you who have read my post and are actually curious enough to read the article, it’s finally up online!  And, I’m not sure how long this one will last, but it even made the website’s homepage. 

Several weeks ago, a reporter for a local newspaper contacted my boss and asked about doing an interview.  The reporter had been at a board meeting last semester where we gave a presentation to the board showing off all of the new library resources and services we were providing.  Well, this reporter was intrigued and wanted to write about it and my boss asked me to be a part of the interview. 

She came in and we wow’d her with all of our cool new toys.  She had no idea that libraries were part of the digital age.  A photographer came in last week to take our picture and told us that the story would run on Sunday.  Well, because the paper is local to the city where the college is, my hubby and I took a field trip today so I could track down a paper and read the story.  Of all the times to not have a camera.  We found a newstand in a grocery store containing two newspapers face out on display; the Arizona Republic (our state newspaper) and this:

That’s me!  On the front page!  I don’t care if this is a local newspaper that’s only read by 500 people (ok, I’m sure it’s more than that), I’m on the freakin’ front page!  I so wish I had a picture of that newstand.  Wanna see a slightly better and closer-up picture?

Our good camera (the one that had an accident while skiing) is “in the shop” so I had to use our older camera which dies after a couple of pics.  I had to take these quickly!  Anyway, I’m hoping the story runs on the newspaper’s website tomorrow (I’ve been checking all day today and no sign of it yet) so I can give the link.

I’m (not even remotely) famous!  Whee!

A co-worker sent this to me and it cracked me up.  Not sure if this has made the email rounds or not, so you might have already heard it.  If not, here’s the description from the email…

CAR ACCIDENT IN TEXAS… PRICELESS !!

If you don’t listen to anything else today, listen to this one.  This will definitely make you laugh!  Turn up your sound and click on the website below.  The accident occurred in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.  This is a phone call from a man who witnesses the accident involving four elderly women.  It was so popular when they played it on C.H.U.M. FM, they put it on their website.  The guy’s laugh is contagious. Just close your eyes and picture what he sees.

And here’s the link,

http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf. 

Enjoy!

We have four librarians at my librarian whose ages span four decades (in case you’re curious, I represent those in their 30’s).  While I don’t feel old personally, working in a community college often reminds me what age is given on my drivers license.  Today was one of those days. 

A student came to the reference desk and the librarian who represents those in their 20’s managed to get the student before me.  When I walked out, the librarian was attempting to find articles on the student’s topic, but without much luck.  I was going to try and help him and when I asked about the topic he said it’s the emo culture. 

Now, for those of you with teens or who might be teens, you might be nodding your heads and know exactly what that is.  I had no freakin’ clue.  As soon as he described the culture, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  I just had no idea it had a name.  I feel old today.  But, at least my niece once told me that I’m “cool for an old person.”  That’s gotta count for something, right?

I started my ad*d meds yesterday.  My doctor started me on a really, really low dose just to make sure I can tolerate it (it’s a stimulant and I may or may not have mitral valve prolapse - diagnosed and then un-diagnosed - so we assume I have it to play it safe).  Anyway, I seem to be tolerating it ok so far.  At least I assume I am.  I don’t really feel much of anything just yet.  But I’ve been told that the changes are subtle.  Although it’s weird to be taking a stimulant and feel sleepy.

Anyhoo, I’m off to hiking!  I love this Spring Break.  I started it off by skiing in freezing temps and I’m ending it by hiking in 80 degree weather.

This past weekend, Melanie, my hubby, and I went up to Flagstaff so I could attempt cross country skiing for the first time.  This was a common position for me.

This was actually my second time down (of many), but I think my first spill was the funniest.  We were at the Flagstaff Nordic Center on Saturday and the trails were pretty icy.  I was attempting to go up a hill but I lost my momentum.  Instead of going up, I started to slide down backwards.  I was already leaning forward and so when my skis started going backwards, my upper body continued in a forward motion.  Until I hit the ground.  Hard.  Enough to knock the air out of me.  Once I knew I was ok (Ankles ok? check.  Knees ok?  check.  Anything broken/twisted?  Nope.) I started laughing because I could only imagine what it must have looked like.  Unfortunately, my hubby missed the photo opp.

We went skiing both Saturday and Sunday and I did manage to stay upright for the most part on Sunday.  I even eventually figured out what I was supposed to do with my hands and feet.  (I determined that cross country skiing is much like learning how to drive a stick shift.  You know what you’re supposed to do, but getting your hands and feet to comply is a different matter.)  Saturday’s weather was sunny and somewhat warm (hence the icy trails).

Sunday, however, was a different story.  A storm moved in overnight and brought snow.  Several inches of it.

Brrr!  Thankfully the lodge was nice and warm so we could thaw out.

I really had a lot of fun.  It was hard work, and I was extremely sore on Monday, but I can’t wait to go again next winter.  I’m not sure the Yarn Mobile is as excited as I am, though.

My poor little car isn’t used to the cold weather.  And while the three of us made it through the weekend without any injuries, there was a casualty of sorts.

My hubby wanted to get video of me when I first started out, but the camera slipped and landed on the ground.  Oops!  Pictures can still be taken, but the display is dead.  On the bright side, this confirms our decision to buy a digital SLR to take with us to Ireland in May.  (Oh, didn’t I tell you?  We bought tickets and are heading to Ireland on May 9th! Ack!)