Book Sale Ending Soon

Well folks, it's time for the library's book sale to start winding down. I talked with Sharon and Michele today, and we planned its end.

Because I'm being lazy, I'll just repeat the text from the posters (including my spiffy rhyme):

The Tumbler Ridge Public Library
Book Sale

Ends Oct. 9th

These tables of books are a total frustration.
Bring a bag! Fill it up! Pay by donation!

Nearly October already...

Library staff members tend to notice the passage of time for one simple reason: every time we sign books out we see the date due slip that shows what the date will be in three weeks. As a result, we've known October was on the way since September 10th.

Why does this matter?

October is kind of a big month around the library. For one thing, October is Canadian Library Month. That means we'll have spiffy posters around the library to remind you to appreciate libraries. ...And if you feel like appreciating the staff members at the library (small, unmarked bills are always appropriate), that would be okay too.

Halloween also comes at the end of October, and it's always fun at the library. Like last year, we'll be taking photos of everyone's costumes during the week of Halloween. We still have to work out all the specifics, but we still have a few weeks to do that.

Halloween is a chance to see your friendly library staff members in costumes of their own. Last year our costumes included a hippy (Rebekah), a princess (Sharon), Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett [I can never remember which is which] (Michele) and Dr. House (Jacob).

I have my costume already planned out for this year. It's currently a secret, but here are a few clues.

1. My costume will be amazing.
2. I could make the costume myself, but will probably visit my parents to use my mom's sewing machine to make it easier (and neater).
3. I can buy all the supplies to make the costume at Wal-Mart.

Are those clues enough to guess my costume? Probably not, but that's sort of the point.

Eight more days until October. Let the countdown begin.

Thoughts on corresponding with an author

I'm in quasi-correspondence with an author right now. His name is Jimmy Gownley, and he's the author and illustrator of the graphic novel series Amelia Rules! (which Sharon and I both love).

How did it start? Well...

I've been using Twitter since late April to post about my job at the library. When I first borrowed Amelia Rules! volume 1 ("The Whole World's Crazy) through an interlibrary loan, I posted a few messages about it, and how much I enjoyed it. Then a few weeks later, I did the same regarding volume 2 ("What Makes you Happy")

At some point along the way, I noticed that a kgownley was following me on Twitter, commented about it, and then started following her on Twitter. It turned out that she was Jimmy Gownley's wife.

When I received volume 3 ("Superheroes") and tweeted about it, she asked how I liked it. I replied "one word review: fantastic."

A few weeks later, I was reading kgownley's posts, and noticed that she followed jimmygownley. I put two and two together (and got four), and started following him as well. Yesterday he posted a link to the cover of the newest volume of Amelia Rules! (volume 5 "The Tweenage guide to not being Unpopular" -- Amazon has it listed for sale in April). I retweeted it, and then posted a comment that said "I showed the cover of AR 5 to Sharon and we both loved it. It's going to be a long seven month wait for it. :-( "

So when I came in to work this morning and logged in to Twitter (to complain about doing overdues), there was a message to me from Jimmy Gownley. He said "@jake_fehr I'm glad you both like the cover. I'm really happy with how the book turned out - I'm excited to get feedback on it!"

I've got to say that I was really impressed. He could've easily ignored my tweet (though he is following me on Twitter, I didn't specifically direct the tweet at him), but instead he took a brief moment to acknowledge me. As far as I'm concerned, Jimmy Gownley is a class act, and I'll continue to be a fan of him and his works for a long time to come.

That being said, if I'm disappointed by Amelia Rules! volume 4 when it arrives via ILL later this week, he'll be hearing about it.

Working Left-Handed (sort of)

I thought I'd change things up a little bit today. I moved my mouse to the left side of my desk and switched the mouse buttons in the control panel. I've done it before, but this is the first time I've done it while working at the Tumbler Ridge Public Library. It seems like a small change, but it has really made me think about how computers are set up.

As a rule, I'm a very keyboard-oriented computer user. I suppose that's a result of my early years of programming on an Apple II. When I need to access something through the start menu, I almost always do it by using the keyboard (pressing the windows key, then using the arrows to move through the menu). When I switch between running programs, I almost always use Alt+Tab.

The end result is that normally I keep one hand on the mouse, and one on the keyboard while I'm doing most work (other than typing). That method falls completely apart when I use the mouse left-handed. Stretching my right arm across to press Alt+Tab (or Ctrl+Tab for that matter) while I'm still holding the mouse is downright awkward. It occurred to me that keyboards have two Shift keys, two Ctrl keys, two Alt keys... Why can't they have a second Tab key to make life easier for left-handed users?

The (seemingly) logical place for a second Tab key would be where the oversized backslash key is (just above the Enter key) because it would mirror the position of the first Tab key. However, if keyboard manufacturers replaced the backslash key with two keys, they'd each be far too small to be useful.

My suggestion is to narrow the right Shift key. I have reasonably large hands, and I never even touch the right half of the right Shift key. What if keyboard manufacturers lopped off one key-width of the right Shift key and made a second Tab key? The distance between the right Alt and Tab keys would be about the same as the distance between the left keys.

Or I suppose I could reprogram the Menu key (between the right Windows and Ctrl keys) to work as a second Tab key, but that sounds like too much work...

Book Sale at the Tumbler Ridge Public Library

We've been weeding adult fiction for a few weeks now, and the books are really starting to pile up. We've overfilled the normal book sale carts, just about filled three of our study cubicles, and have overloaded an extra table. That means it's time for a book sale!

Book Sale at the Tumbler Ridge Public Library

Starts: Immediately.

Ends: When we're tired of having so many tables occupied by books.
(The sale will last until September 16th at least)

Cost of books: 3 for $1.

Note: We're not finished weeding, so there will be new books added as the sale goes on.