-It seems that today can be added to the nice weather streak. Some seem to even be hoping that such weather will make it all the way to the weekend.
Actually, I might go so far as to say that the weather is a little too warm. I know that I was really sweating by the time I made it to work this morning.
-The more I encounter them the more I realize that I am not a particularly big fan of the special Canadian subclasses that have been made to work like LCC subclasses. I can't say that my complaint is a fuller treatment of Canadian subjects, as this is something that is definitely needed in the LCC system. It must be my unrelenting attempt to stay within the lines (or rules) as they have been set out by some governing authority, in this case the Library of Congress. It may also because I haven't obtained copies of the Canadian subclasses so I don't ever know what is going on when I see them. I think it also may have to do with the concept of maintaining a pure LCC system, something that seems strangely attractive.
-Yesterday I was able to pick up my diploma from the post office. Fortunately McGill didn't make any spelling or capitalization mistakes in my name. I guess I now have to figure out what I want to do with it, which will probably be not much of anything.
-Last night at my house-sitting gig the cat and dog were antagonizing each other all night long, or, actually, only the portion of the night during which I was trying sleep. I would guess that their bickering cost me several hours of sleep, which was a bit of a blow and has certainly affected how I am feeling today.
On my walk with the dog today I learned that its stamina isn't quite what I would have expected for a greyhound. On really needs to take it slow otherwise the dog will overheat.
-It seems that my father and I may be taking our spraying show on the road. That friend that was helping us a few days ago is interested in having us spray his trees tonight. Hopefully we get going soon otherwise it will be dark before we finish.
Showing posts with label classification schedules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classification schedules. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 195
-Just like the past few days, today's weather is quite passable. It seems that we have clear skies and low winds. The only complaint might be that it is on the hot side (but that may just be because I am sensitive to such things).
-On Saturday I purchased a new pair of sunglasses, so far I am quite please with my purchase. The last pair broke when I was trying to straighten one of the arms.
-After about a month and a half I finally got around to re-planting my bean patch. Due to cold weather and a lack of sun my first set of beans didn't really take off. Hopefully the better weather will allow this round of seeds to flourish (even if I won't be here to reap the benefits).
-It seems that construction season is now in full swing. Not only is Prince Philip Parkway somewhat obstructed because of construction projects, my own street (one that is not a main thoroughfare) is having some rather major patch work done. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon as the construction crews making walking to work a little more difficult than it should be.
-Today while doing some cataloging I came across a third LCC cataloging joke (the first being that the Bible is in subclass BS; the second that subclass VD is used for things relating to Naval Seamen). It seems that LCC puts French Canadian literature in the subclass PQ. Maybe it is just me that finds this funny.
-This morning I started started a house sitting gig. Almost as soon as I walked in the house I found that one of the fish was dead. Fortunately the net was conveniently located and I was able to scoop it out and flush it without too much trouble. Luckily the owners were aware of the problems with the tank (and doing their best to rectify them) before I arrived so I won't be overly criticized for the death of this goldfish. I just hope that remaining fish are able to hold on.
When I make it back to the house this evening I will have to feed the fish, cat, and dog, and take the dog for a walk. I am hoping that this last task won't be too trying as I am not particularly familiar with dog walking.
-It turns out that not a big fan of the P subclasses that are used for the classification of literature. I feel that there are far too many tables and not that in the end the whole system isn't all that much better than just arranging the books alphabetically by author (and then sub-arranging them by title or date), as this is basically what occurs in many sections any way (but only after works by authors from different countries have been segregated from one another).
-On Saturday I purchased a new pair of sunglasses, so far I am quite please with my purchase. The last pair broke when I was trying to straighten one of the arms.
-After about a month and a half I finally got around to re-planting my bean patch. Due to cold weather and a lack of sun my first set of beans didn't really take off. Hopefully the better weather will allow this round of seeds to flourish (even if I won't be here to reap the benefits).
-It seems that construction season is now in full swing. Not only is Prince Philip Parkway somewhat obstructed because of construction projects, my own street (one that is not a main thoroughfare) is having some rather major patch work done. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon as the construction crews making walking to work a little more difficult than it should be.
-Today while doing some cataloging I came across a third LCC cataloging joke (the first being that the Bible is in subclass BS; the second that subclass VD is used for things relating to Naval Seamen). It seems that LCC puts French Canadian literature in the subclass PQ. Maybe it is just me that finds this funny.
-This morning I started started a house sitting gig. Almost as soon as I walked in the house I found that one of the fish was dead. Fortunately the net was conveniently located and I was able to scoop it out and flush it without too much trouble. Luckily the owners were aware of the problems with the tank (and doing their best to rectify them) before I arrived so I won't be overly criticized for the death of this goldfish. I just hope that remaining fish are able to hold on.
When I make it back to the house this evening I will have to feed the fish, cat, and dog, and take the dog for a walk. I am hoping that this last task won't be too trying as I am not particularly familiar with dog walking.
-It turns out that not a big fan of the P subclasses that are used for the classification of literature. I feel that there are far too many tables and not that in the end the whole system isn't all that much better than just arranging the books alphabetically by author (and then sub-arranging them by title or date), as this is basically what occurs in many sections any way (but only after works by authors from different countries have been segregated from one another).
Monday, June 30, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 191
-Today has been another in the series of less than stellar days that we have had recently. Unlike recent days, thundershowers have been forecast for this afternoon (something of a meteorological rarity in St. John's).
-On Saturday night I went bowling with Greg and Nikita. We first played a game of ten pin before switching over to five pin. The five pin game we played was incredibly close. As we entered the tenth frame it was still anyone's game, though I quickly managed to knock myself out of contention by muffing up my first ball. Eventually Greg found his way to the top, and Nikita to second place, leaving me at the back of the pack.
-Yesterday, while looking through the pantry, I came across some bean soup mix. Not surprisingly, as I am fixated on cooking beans, I decided to try to prepare some of the soup. While I seem to have followed most of the instructions and used most of the called for ingredients it still seems as though the soup as that less than ideal smell that I so frequently get when I prepare beans.
While I have not yet had a chance to try the soup (it will be served for supper tonight) I am pretty sure that it won't be that good, and yet another piece of evidence to suggest that I am completely unable to prepare beans (including coffee).
-This morning, as I prepared myself for work, it appeared to be raining. Given this information, and a desire to have dry clothing at work, I decided to wear my rain suit to work. It seems that almost as soon as I started on my way to work the rain basically stopped, though I was still wearing my rain suit (and sandals). As I continued to walk I hoped that the rain would start, mainly to justify my wearing of a somewhat preposterous outfit (particularly if it is not really raining).
Anyway, the rain stayed away and I was able to arrive at work completely dry, though this had nothing to do with the fact that I was wearing a rain suit.
-We played a few games of Settlers yesterday. I managed to win a few of the games. By the end of the day I was considered enough of a threat to merit the pre-game burn call (an honour that had previously only been bestowed upon Neil). Even more impressive was that I will still able win the final game even though the "burn had been called."
-While looking through some LCC schedules today I learned that their is a class number for materials about the 'hardcore unemployed.' Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find the class number that would be used for materials about 'hardcore folk music.'
-As it was a little cool this morning I decided that I would wear a sweater under my rain suit. As I was to be heading to a library it seemed most appropriate for me to wear a cardigan. Once I arrived at work I found my boss was also wearing a cardigan, and the other worker had a cardigan (though she wasn't wearing it). I presume my other co-workers would have been wearing cardigans had they not taken today off.
-Just as I was about to head to work my mother asked me if I had been planning on shaving before going to work.. Surprisingly, I actually had been planning on shaving, but seem to have let it slip my mind in the pre-work rush. I guess it will have to wait for another day (likely Wednesday).
-On Saturday night I went bowling with Greg and Nikita. We first played a game of ten pin before switching over to five pin. The five pin game we played was incredibly close. As we entered the tenth frame it was still anyone's game, though I quickly managed to knock myself out of contention by muffing up my first ball. Eventually Greg found his way to the top, and Nikita to second place, leaving me at the back of the pack.
-Yesterday, while looking through the pantry, I came across some bean soup mix. Not surprisingly, as I am fixated on cooking beans, I decided to try to prepare some of the soup. While I seem to have followed most of the instructions and used most of the called for ingredients it still seems as though the soup as that less than ideal smell that I so frequently get when I prepare beans.
While I have not yet had a chance to try the soup (it will be served for supper tonight) I am pretty sure that it won't be that good, and yet another piece of evidence to suggest that I am completely unable to prepare beans (including coffee).
-This morning, as I prepared myself for work, it appeared to be raining. Given this information, and a desire to have dry clothing at work, I decided to wear my rain suit to work. It seems that almost as soon as I started on my way to work the rain basically stopped, though I was still wearing my rain suit (and sandals). As I continued to walk I hoped that the rain would start, mainly to justify my wearing of a somewhat preposterous outfit (particularly if it is not really raining).
Anyway, the rain stayed away and I was able to arrive at work completely dry, though this had nothing to do with the fact that I was wearing a rain suit.
-We played a few games of Settlers yesterday. I managed to win a few of the games. By the end of the day I was considered enough of a threat to merit the pre-game burn call (an honour that had previously only been bestowed upon Neil). Even more impressive was that I will still able win the final game even though the "burn had been called."
-While looking through some LCC schedules today I learned that their is a class number for materials about the 'hardcore unemployed.' Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find the class number that would be used for materials about 'hardcore folk music.'
-As it was a little cool this morning I decided that I would wear a sweater under my rain suit. As I was to be heading to a library it seemed most appropriate for me to wear a cardigan. Once I arrived at work I found my boss was also wearing a cardigan, and the other worker had a cardigan (though she wasn't wearing it). I presume my other co-workers would have been wearing cardigans had they not taken today off.
-Just as I was about to head to work my mother asked me if I had been planning on shaving before going to work.. Surprisingly, I actually had been planning on shaving, but seem to have let it slip my mind in the pre-work rush. I guess it will have to wait for another day (likely Wednesday).
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Amicus, where did you go?
Soon after I arrived at work today I logged into Amicus, the Canadian National Catalogue, as is my practice. All seemed to be going as normal until about an hour or so into the day. All of a sudden I seemed not to be able to complete my searches, and then eventually I became unable to even access the splash page.
Assuming that this was a brief glitch I decided that I would leave it alone and come back in a few days. As I checked back during the problems were clearly still persisting.
Eventually I thought that maybe there would be an update or explanation somewhere online. Unfortunately, as the entire Library and Archives Canada site was inaccessible the most obvious location for such a notice was unavailable. In the end I tried to look in a few place, all of which turned up nothing. As I am pretty sure that there must be a message board with comments related to this occurrence I may have to continue my searching tomorrow (even though the problem has now been resolved).
Not surprisingly, with Amicus down, I decided to head over to the Library of Congress catalogue, assuming that their classifications of particular items would be pretty authoritative. Once in the catalog I learned that they too were having service problems. In this case the message I received indicated that they had reached their maximum user capacity.
While it is quite possible that this is what happened, I wonder if they were operating at diminished capacity as I have a very hard time believing that it is such a popular site that it would max out its capacity. Who knows, maybe I hit prime East coast cataloging time. As I don't use the service as much as I use Amicus I am not really in a position to say that this doesn't happen every day at that time.
Hopefully everything will be back on track tomorrow and their to serve my classification related needs.
Assuming that this was a brief glitch I decided that I would leave it alone and come back in a few days. As I checked back during the problems were clearly still persisting.
Eventually I thought that maybe there would be an update or explanation somewhere online. Unfortunately, as the entire Library and Archives Canada site was inaccessible the most obvious location for such a notice was unavailable. In the end I tried to look in a few place, all of which turned up nothing. As I am pretty sure that there must be a message board with comments related to this occurrence I may have to continue my searching tomorrow (even though the problem has now been resolved).
Not surprisingly, with Amicus down, I decided to head over to the Library of Congress catalogue, assuming that their classifications of particular items would be pretty authoritative. Once in the catalog I learned that they too were having service problems. In this case the message I received indicated that they had reached their maximum user capacity.
While it is quite possible that this is what happened, I wonder if they were operating at diminished capacity as I have a very hard time believing that it is such a popular site that it would max out its capacity. Who knows, maybe I hit prime East coast cataloging time. As I don't use the service as much as I use Amicus I am not really in a position to say that this doesn't happen every day at that time.
Hopefully everything will be back on track tomorrow and their to serve my classification related needs.
A Few Quick Notes 184
-Though today was forecast to be a nice day, things don't seem to have worked out like that. Instead of the predicted clear skies and temperatures in the mid-teens we seem to have overcast skies with temperatures holding steady near 10 degrees. Furthermore, the forecast has now gone from including some sun in the 5 day forecast to now a copy/paste approach of just predicting rain/fog for the next five days.
-I had a pretty large lunch today. Along with my roast beef sandwich I had two lamb chops, two carrots, and half of an orange pepper.
-Amazingly I am already sending things to Halifax for the Fall. Rebecca's father will be transporting a few boxes to Halifax for me. Hopefully such planning will mean that I won't have all that much to pack when I eventually get around to moving myself there at the end of the summer.
-We managed to pull off another win at tonight's ultimate game. As with the past two games, playing against relatively new teams has been helpful. The plan is to get a practice in before next week's game, something that I think will be useful.
-For the first time I was able to legitimately use the subclass VD (Naval seamen). As petty a joke as it is, I was quite pleased to have actually come across a book that topic that I was allowed to catalogue. If my luck keeps up, maybe I will eventually get to put a Bible in the BS section.
-Last night, while heading into a bar, I was IDed. This shocked me as the person I was walking in with is exactly 3 months older and was not IDed. Furthermore, that they are IDing me suggests that I look as though I am no older than 18, which is something that I find hard to believe. Also, how many eighteen year-olds go out on a Wednesday night at a non-happening bar with someone who looks so much older?
Anyway, I guess it isn't that big a deal, but for some reason it really gets to me.
-I had a pretty large lunch today. Along with my roast beef sandwich I had two lamb chops, two carrots, and half of an orange pepper.
-Amazingly I am already sending things to Halifax for the Fall. Rebecca's father will be transporting a few boxes to Halifax for me. Hopefully such planning will mean that I won't have all that much to pack when I eventually get around to moving myself there at the end of the summer.
-We managed to pull off another win at tonight's ultimate game. As with the past two games, playing against relatively new teams has been helpful. The plan is to get a practice in before next week's game, something that I think will be useful.
-For the first time I was able to legitimately use the subclass VD (Naval seamen). As petty a joke as it is, I was quite pleased to have actually come across a book that topic that I was allowed to catalogue. If my luck keeps up, maybe I will eventually get to put a Bible in the BS section.
-Last night, while heading into a bar, I was IDed. This shocked me as the person I was walking in with is exactly 3 months older and was not IDed. Furthermore, that they are IDing me suggests that I look as though I am no older than 18, which is something that I find hard to believe. Also, how many eighteen year-olds go out on a Wednesday night at a non-happening bar with someone who looks so much older?
Anyway, I guess it isn't that big a deal, but for some reason it really gets to me.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 179
-As I suspected, things the skies were pretty overcast as I made my way to work this morning. Fortunately, as the day progressed things turned around a little, only revert to their original status for the late afternoon and evening. Fortunately neither the wind or precipitation were particularly noticeable or bothersome.
-It was quite nice to have some fresh bread for breakfast. Tomorrow I plan on having a little blood pudding with my bread. I was able to pick up two nice slabs of the fabulous breakfast 'meat' for only 88 cents.
-Today my major food preparation project was a chicken lentil curry. I was motivated to make this dish because I had previously agreed to watch my sister this evening, and also to prepare dinner for her.
While the curry component of the dish wasn't quite overwhelming, or really even all that noticeable, it was quite an inoffensive dish. My only real regret was that I was forced to use lentils rather than chick peas (but that is what happens when the local grocery store doesn't stock a standard run of groceries).
-After dinner my sister and I made our way over to the local university library. While there I collected and began to read a few books that relate to political science. My sister spent her time studying for her upcoming junior high exams.
Though we only spent about an hour in the reading room I think that it is safe to say that both of made progress and were glad that we made the trip.
One of the best parts of the trip from my perspective was that I was able to test out my alumni borrowing privileges. As I hoped, everything went off without a hitch and I was able to borrow about six books (and should be able to renew them online if need be).
Hopefully trips such as these will leave my sister with a positive impression of libraries. Maybe I will have to make a point of heading up there with her again to solidify her positive impression of the place.
-Again today I found some abuse of the TD 195 class number. What is it that is so attractive about this particular number that causes it to be so freely used by catalogers?
-It was quite nice to have some fresh bread for breakfast. Tomorrow I plan on having a little blood pudding with my bread. I was able to pick up two nice slabs of the fabulous breakfast 'meat' for only 88 cents.
-Today my major food preparation project was a chicken lentil curry. I was motivated to make this dish because I had previously agreed to watch my sister this evening, and also to prepare dinner for her.
While the curry component of the dish wasn't quite overwhelming, or really even all that noticeable, it was quite an inoffensive dish. My only real regret was that I was forced to use lentils rather than chick peas (but that is what happens when the local grocery store doesn't stock a standard run of groceries).
-After dinner my sister and I made our way over to the local university library. While there I collected and began to read a few books that relate to political science. My sister spent her time studying for her upcoming junior high exams.
Though we only spent about an hour in the reading room I think that it is safe to say that both of made progress and were glad that we made the trip.
One of the best parts of the trip from my perspective was that I was able to test out my alumni borrowing privileges. As I hoped, everything went off without a hitch and I was able to borrow about six books (and should be able to renew them online if need be).
Hopefully trips such as these will leave my sister with a positive impression of libraries. Maybe I will have to make a point of heading up there with her again to solidify her positive impression of the place.
-Again today I found some abuse of the TD 195 class number. What is it that is so attractive about this particular number that causes it to be so freely used by catalogers?
Friday, June 06, 2008
TD 195.P4
It seems that one (or maybe many) of the cataloguers at MUN has an obsession with the classification number 'TD 195.P4.' At least one person is willing to use this number for all kinds of documents that are related to Hibernia or aspects of the offshore oil industry, whether or not they related directly to 'Environmental effects of industries and plants.' My reading of the schedules would cause me to be of the opinion that it should only be used for items dealing with matters related to the 'environmental effects' of the petroleum industry, rather than as a catch-all class.
The problem, or frustration, is that that while copy-cataloging I then have to go back and re-classify the document in question. Typically, in line with my own personal preferences, I end up putting many of these documents in 'HD 9574 N4.'
The problem, or frustration, is that that while copy-cataloging I then have to go back and re-classify the document in question. Typically, in line with my own personal preferences, I end up putting many of these documents in 'HD 9574 N4.'
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 176
-After a day of heavy rain, things seem to have dried out a little. Unfortunately, the skies are still slightly overcast and threatening rain. The temperature is about 14, which is just about perfect for walking.
-The fifth season of Mile Zero Ultimate (MZU) started this week, though yesterday's games were rained out. Unfortunately, it seems that MZU will no longer be playing games at the MUN field. This an unfortunate loss not only because it was a good field, but also because it was conveniently located with good parking.
My team's first game is this Friday at 7:00. Hopefully at last half of our team will show up for today's practice so that we have a sense of how things will look at the end of the week.
-In the past few weeks I have started to notice that canned tuna prices are quite variable. Some of the cheaper varieties seem to be available for about $1/can, while prices can head towards $3 for more expensive varieties.
Obviously, I tend to buy the cheap varieties, in part because I am generally cheap, and also because such prudence is necessary given my current financial situation. Though when shopping for canned tuna on Sunday I decided to splurge and pick up a can of the high stuff, as well as a can of the cheap stuff. I was curious to know if there was really any good reason to be paying twice as much for tuna.
For lunch the past two days I have consumed the two recently purchased cans of tuna and come to the conclusion that there isn't really a particularly good reason to buy the expensive stuff, unless you are particularly keen on having nice big pieces of meat. Strangely, it is even possible that the cheaper can was more flavourful (which may be why it was cheaper).
Anyway, I guess this is all to say that I now feel quite comfortable buying cheap tuna, particularly when my sighted taste-test suggested no notable quality differences.
-Using LCC schedules for my various classification related activities has been much more fun (if that is the right word) than I thought it would be. Not only do I get to analyze what others have done when classifying items, I also get to try and work through the problem myself. I wonder if once I have done hundreds or thousands this enjoyment level will begin to diminish.
-The fifth season of Mile Zero Ultimate (MZU) started this week, though yesterday's games were rained out. Unfortunately, it seems that MZU will no longer be playing games at the MUN field. This an unfortunate loss not only because it was a good field, but also because it was conveniently located with good parking.
My team's first game is this Friday at 7:00. Hopefully at last half of our team will show up for today's practice so that we have a sense of how things will look at the end of the week.
-In the past few weeks I have started to notice that canned tuna prices are quite variable. Some of the cheaper varieties seem to be available for about $1/can, while prices can head towards $3 for more expensive varieties.
Obviously, I tend to buy the cheap varieties, in part because I am generally cheap, and also because such prudence is necessary given my current financial situation. Though when shopping for canned tuna on Sunday I decided to splurge and pick up a can of the high stuff, as well as a can of the cheap stuff. I was curious to know if there was really any good reason to be paying twice as much for tuna.
For lunch the past two days I have consumed the two recently purchased cans of tuna and come to the conclusion that there isn't really a particularly good reason to buy the expensive stuff, unless you are particularly keen on having nice big pieces of meat. Strangely, it is even possible that the cheaper can was more flavourful (which may be why it was cheaper).
Anyway, I guess this is all to say that I now feel quite comfortable buying cheap tuna, particularly when my sighted taste-test suggested no notable quality differences.
-Using LCC schedules for my various classification related activities has been much more fun (if that is the right word) than I thought it would be. Not only do I get to analyze what others have done when classifying items, I also get to try and work through the problem myself. I wonder if once I have done hundreds or thousands this enjoyment level will begin to diminish.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 174
-Today, like the past few days, has been remarkably pleasant. The temperatures, which are in the teens, are great for walking and other semi-active outdoor activities. This are made even better by the fact that the sun is shining and that the skies are clear. Shockingly, the wind isn't even over powering.
The only remaining evidence of how bad thing were in May is general condition of the plant-life in the city. Some of the tulips are just now starting to bloom. And in the past few days a few of the trees have started to show signs upcoming leaf growth. Hopefully within a week or two we will be close to back on track (which is certainly a slower track, even at the best of times, than most of North America).
-Yesterday I was able to put my newly acquired cataloging skills to good use. For the first time in my working life I was able to use the LC classification schedules while cataloging for money. While I am pleased to say that I have now used them in a work environment, I must say it was a bit anticlimactic.
The positive side of this addition to my repertoire is that I can now start moving through a broader range of library materials. I am no longer restricted to only government documents. Things are starting to look up.
-Obviously, I am back at work, or at least that is the information that I would hope most would get from the above note.
For the most part I am basically doing the same things that I did in the past, but that I am now expected to do at a higher level. It seems that as I now have a library degree I can't shirk too many of the things that come my way (not that I was doing that in the past).
The only disappointment of the job is that I was reclassified from 'summer student' to 'Library technician IV.' Not surprisingly, I had really hoped that I would have been able to get a post that have more accurately reflected the fact that I now have a library degree.
-Early this morning Kirsten and I made our way over to Georgetown Bakery on our weekly bagel pilgrimage. Fortunately, as was the case last week, they weren't sold out when I placed the order. While their we ran into our former neighbour and were able to get a description of his new dog.
-On Thursday night a friend and I went to a recently opened bar just off George street for a beer. The main justification for choosing the particular bar was that his ladyfriend was working her first shift there.
As it is a relatively new bar it wasn't all that surprising to find that there weren't that many customers there when we arrived. Actually, most of the people there seemed to either be friends with the owner or in some way associated with the bar staff.
After the newly minted bartender had received her orientation she was able to come by and serve us some beer. Within about two minutes of having received these beers a guy down at the other end of the bar purchased everyone at the bar a round with some recent VLT winnings.
We eventually started talking to the younger sister of a former classmate of ours (who was to start as a bartender the next night). While talking to her the VLT winner purchased another round for the bar, this time shots of Goldschlager.
While I appreciate it when someone buys round for the bar I wonder why it can't be that I have such luck on a night when I don't have to be at work at 9:00 AM the next day.
-On Thursday I prepared 'coq au vin' for dinner. As some of you might know, this is a dish that is based on wine marinated chicken. Not surprisingly, a few additional components are thrown in during the cooking process. While the three recipes that I examined vary slightly, they are remarkably similar, with only a few side ingredients changing.
While this was a pretty flavourful dish I did have two problems. The first problem was of my own making and was related to the timing of things. Instead of preparing the coq au vin as soon as I returned from work, I instead prepared the gingerbread and didn't start work on the main dish until the dessert was in the oven. Secondly, the dish was a little bit greasier than I might have like. The next time I make it I will be sure to remove some of the bacon grease before I continue adding other ingredients.
The only remaining evidence of how bad thing were in May is general condition of the plant-life in the city. Some of the tulips are just now starting to bloom. And in the past few days a few of the trees have started to show signs upcoming leaf growth. Hopefully within a week or two we will be close to back on track (which is certainly a slower track, even at the best of times, than most of North America).
-Yesterday I was able to put my newly acquired cataloging skills to good use. For the first time in my working life I was able to use the LC classification schedules while cataloging for money. While I am pleased to say that I have now used them in a work environment, I must say it was a bit anticlimactic.
The positive side of this addition to my repertoire is that I can now start moving through a broader range of library materials. I am no longer restricted to only government documents. Things are starting to look up.
-Obviously, I am back at work, or at least that is the information that I would hope most would get from the above note.
For the most part I am basically doing the same things that I did in the past, but that I am now expected to do at a higher level. It seems that as I now have a library degree I can't shirk too many of the things that come my way (not that I was doing that in the past).
The only disappointment of the job is that I was reclassified from 'summer student' to 'Library technician IV.' Not surprisingly, I had really hoped that I would have been able to get a post that have more accurately reflected the fact that I now have a library degree.
-Early this morning Kirsten and I made our way over to Georgetown Bakery on our weekly bagel pilgrimage. Fortunately, as was the case last week, they weren't sold out when I placed the order. While their we ran into our former neighbour and were able to get a description of his new dog.
-On Thursday night a friend and I went to a recently opened bar just off George street for a beer. The main justification for choosing the particular bar was that his ladyfriend was working her first shift there.
As it is a relatively new bar it wasn't all that surprising to find that there weren't that many customers there when we arrived. Actually, most of the people there seemed to either be friends with the owner or in some way associated with the bar staff.
After the newly minted bartender had received her orientation she was able to come by and serve us some beer. Within about two minutes of having received these beers a guy down at the other end of the bar purchased everyone at the bar a round with some recent VLT winnings.
We eventually started talking to the younger sister of a former classmate of ours (who was to start as a bartender the next night). While talking to her the VLT winner purchased another round for the bar, this time shots of Goldschlager.
While I appreciate it when someone buys round for the bar I wonder why it can't be that I have such luck on a night when I don't have to be at work at 9:00 AM the next day.
-On Thursday I prepared 'coq au vin' for dinner. As some of you might know, this is a dish that is based on wine marinated chicken. Not surprisingly, a few additional components are thrown in during the cooking process. While the three recipes that I examined vary slightly, they are remarkably similar, with only a few side ingredients changing.
While this was a pretty flavourful dish I did have two problems. The first problem was of my own making and was related to the timing of things. Instead of preparing the coq au vin as soon as I returned from work, I instead prepared the gingerbread and didn't start work on the main dish until the dessert was in the oven. Secondly, the dish was a little bit greasier than I might have like. The next time I make it I will be sure to remove some of the bacon grease before I continue adding other ingredients.
Friday, October 19, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 124
-The temperature has been somewhat higher for the past few days. It was so hot this morning that I was sitting on the balcony reading my paper in a tee-shirt and shorts. Actually, I heard that the expected high is to be 25. Unfortunately, these high temperatures are to be accompanied by severe thunderstorms starting this afternoon.
-In cataloging class on Wednesday 10 Library of Congress schedules were presented by members of the class. I was responsible for presenting on D-DJ, general history and European history.
Prior to the presentations it had been made clear to us that we would be timed and have an absolute maximum of ten minutes. Within several minutes of the commencement of the first presentation it became very clear that we were being time, a beeping noise kept coming from a timer in front of the professor. It was clear that this beeping meant something, but exactly what was not immediately clear. My sense, and I believe that the rest of the class felt the same way, was that the beeps were bad and likely an indicator of the 10 minute mark.
While I was giving my presentation I thought that I was on pace for an 8 minute presentation, which is where I wanted to be. I heard my first beep, thinking that I had already reached 10 minutes, and sped up, covering the rest of the presentation in about a minute.
As we learned afterwards, the beeping indicated 5 minutes, meaning that I was basically on pace and could have comfortably finished all I needed to say without fear of going over time. Hopefully this new knowledge will lead to a smoother round of presentations in two weeks when we get the next batch of 10 (when I will presenting the J, or Political Science, schedule).
-Shortly after I moved to Montreal last August I bought a multi-pack of cheap knives. With a cutting board and sharpening rod the whole package came in at less than $10. Not surprisingly, these weren’t really the best knives in the world, actually they were barely passable as knives.
This year I decided that I would take a step forward and buy a good, or at least passable, knife. I ended up with a $20 Ikea knife, with which I have been generally quite pleased. When I first opened the knife I read the care instructions and learned that the knife should not be kept sharp with a stainless steel sharpener, but with a ceramic sharpener. The problem this presented is that my knife sharpener is entirely stainless steel, and therefore not suitable for the job.
While I could tell this would be a slight inconvenience, I didn’t think it would be all that bad. I would just head out and pick up a ceramic knife sharpener at the next opportunity.
As it turned out, that next opportunity was yesterday. While at a kitchen store I learned that while knife sharpeners are expensive, ceramic knife sharpeners are obscenely expensive. They wanted $54 for a ceramic knife sharpener, something that was a little outside of my spending range (though I might have been suckered in for $40).
Maybe I will see about getting something at Lee Valley while I am in Halifax. They seem to have such sharpeners for only about $23.
-The previous note would suggest that I am heading to Halifax. I will be heading out on Saturday and returning on Wednesday. The reason for the trip is to attend Neil’s convocation ceremony.
-A few days ago I was hired as a research assistant for a project at McGill. Aside from the work being more in my area of interest, I will also be able to drop my Thursday night busing shift. Though for all of my loyal fans, I will continue to bus on Friday nights.
-While heading to school yesterday I noticed a TV truck outside a local chain coffee shop. On my way back from school, I noticed more TV trucks and protestors. Though I did not know it until I approached them, they were protesting the lack of French on the chain’s signs. It is interesting to note that a brief story on the protest appeared in today’s Globe and Main.
-It appears that today McGill will be starting a very large fundraising drive. To commence the drive they have erected a massive series of tents on the playing fields in front of the McLennan library. My thought was that if a university can afford to set up a tent village for a week maybe they don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars. Or if they do need hundreds of millions of dollars maybe they shouldn’t set up a tent city (particularly when I am using library resources that are 20 years out of date).
-In cataloging class on Wednesday 10 Library of Congress schedules were presented by members of the class. I was responsible for presenting on D-DJ, general history and European history.
Prior to the presentations it had been made clear to us that we would be timed and have an absolute maximum of ten minutes. Within several minutes of the commencement of the first presentation it became very clear that we were being time, a beeping noise kept coming from a timer in front of the professor. It was clear that this beeping meant something, but exactly what was not immediately clear. My sense, and I believe that the rest of the class felt the same way, was that the beeps were bad and likely an indicator of the 10 minute mark.
While I was giving my presentation I thought that I was on pace for an 8 minute presentation, which is where I wanted to be. I heard my first beep, thinking that I had already reached 10 minutes, and sped up, covering the rest of the presentation in about a minute.
As we learned afterwards, the beeping indicated 5 minutes, meaning that I was basically on pace and could have comfortably finished all I needed to say without fear of going over time. Hopefully this new knowledge will lead to a smoother round of presentations in two weeks when we get the next batch of 10 (when I will presenting the J, or Political Science, schedule).
-Shortly after I moved to Montreal last August I bought a multi-pack of cheap knives. With a cutting board and sharpening rod the whole package came in at less than $10. Not surprisingly, these weren’t really the best knives in the world, actually they were barely passable as knives.
This year I decided that I would take a step forward and buy a good, or at least passable, knife. I ended up with a $20 Ikea knife, with which I have been generally quite pleased. When I first opened the knife I read the care instructions and learned that the knife should not be kept sharp with a stainless steel sharpener, but with a ceramic sharpener. The problem this presented is that my knife sharpener is entirely stainless steel, and therefore not suitable for the job.
While I could tell this would be a slight inconvenience, I didn’t think it would be all that bad. I would just head out and pick up a ceramic knife sharpener at the next opportunity.
As it turned out, that next opportunity was yesterday. While at a kitchen store I learned that while knife sharpeners are expensive, ceramic knife sharpeners are obscenely expensive. They wanted $54 for a ceramic knife sharpener, something that was a little outside of my spending range (though I might have been suckered in for $40).
Maybe I will see about getting something at Lee Valley while I am in Halifax. They seem to have such sharpeners for only about $23.
-The previous note would suggest that I am heading to Halifax. I will be heading out on Saturday and returning on Wednesday. The reason for the trip is to attend Neil’s convocation ceremony.
-A few days ago I was hired as a research assistant for a project at McGill. Aside from the work being more in my area of interest, I will also be able to drop my Thursday night busing shift. Though for all of my loyal fans, I will continue to bus on Friday nights.
-While heading to school yesterday I noticed a TV truck outside a local chain coffee shop. On my way back from school, I noticed more TV trucks and protestors. Though I did not know it until I approached them, they were protesting the lack of French on the chain’s signs. It is interesting to note that a brief story on the protest appeared in today’s Globe and Main.
-It appears that today McGill will be starting a very large fundraising drive. To commence the drive they have erected a massive series of tents on the playing fields in front of the McLennan library. My thought was that if a university can afford to set up a tent village for a week maybe they don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars. Or if they do need hundreds of millions of dollars maybe they shouldn’t set up a tent city (particularly when I am using library resources that are 20 years out of date).
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