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TGIF!!
I'm listening to 630 CHED right now and the weather has warmed up to minus 25 from minus 45. It's been cool here lately (around 10 celcius at night). My apartment hasn't been much above 70 farenheit for a week! I finished the Messier book - quite good. Hopefully Darcy and I will be able to see Mark play here on March 13! I many other books to read such as Souvenir of Canada. I didn't know that it's written by the same Douglas Coupland who wrote Generation X.

Darcy got me interested in doing yoga so we both attend a beginners class on Monday nights. It's fun and hopefully it will help me with lifting weights. On Thursday nights I go to a dumbek drum class. It's taught by Joe Zeytoonian who is a fantastic Middle Eastern musician. His wife, Miriam Eli, teaches Darcy's belly dancing class. Both of them have formed a group called Harmonic Motion. I've taken two drum classes and have learned much. It's difficult but fun. I don't have a music background so I find the terminology difficult and am also not coordinated and being able to memorize beats.

Work remains busy and the library is hosting the ALA's traveling Abraham Lincoln exhibit. My role in this is portraying the big guy himself! I don't mind doing it and have no major speaking roles. But I have to grow his silly looking beard - I don't want to be seen in public! I will probably be needed three times (Civil War battle reenactment) on Feb. 7, Lincoln's birthday on the 12th, and President's Day on the 16th. Oh well, part of being a librarian I guess.

The 2004 Democrat Presidential Candidate race in interesting. I'm not a Democrat but am throwing my support behind General Wesley Clark. I agree with Michael Moore's points that he is the best candidate that can beat Bush. Unfortunately it doesn't look like he will win the nomination. He's doing well despite being a late starter but John Kerry is gaining momentum. I have nothing personally against him but he voted for war in Iraq and for the Patriot Act!

I guess that's all for now. I'll head over to Darcy's for the weekend and wind down after another busy week...
posted by Michael at 6:56 PM

 
Happy New Year 2004! Hope that this year will be healthy and prosperous for Darcy and I.

I'm on hold waiting to talk to John Short on his sportstalk show. I've listened to him for years. Ijust got off the phone and had a quick five minute conversation with him. So I will now listen to him rather than Bryan Hall.

Anyway Darcy and I had a wonderful time in cold, snowy, Christmasy Edmonton. It's been a downer returning to Broward County. I've had to deal with my landlord and apartment problems and readjust to the hot weather (27 celcius). It was minus 40 celcius on the morning of Jan. 3 (the day we left) and was plus 25 upon arriving in Miami! What a change, eh? The cold really didn't bother me. In fact it was invigorating and I took one walk while in Edmonton. What was bad was the dry air and my skin quickly drying out. Despite the cold I seemed to have more energy than in the sweat pit of South Florida.

Since many of my friends now live in Calgary so I was able to spend more time with my parents relaxing. I didn't have time to see Ellie (my Chevelle). But it seems to be in good hands and dream of the day that I will fix it up and drive it. Santa was good to me as I got some nice books, and CDs. As usual I pigged out at home but probably didn't eat as much as in the past. I had an upset stomach a couple of times including the day we left (Dec. 23). Dad and I saw a hockey game and sat in row 1! It was a good game despite the tie. Darcy got us tickets to see the Rangers play Florida on March 13 - thanks!

I'm struggling to get back into the work mode. Luckily I finished some projects before Christmas but I need to get back on track. I taught a SCIS doctoral student refresher class today and was fun. I'm disappointed that their new school has no computer lab. So I must continue to passively lecture to them for an hour about navigating the electronic library. The other option is to break up the large group (upwards of 100) into four and have other librarians teach in the library. The dilemma is to convince faculty to give library instruction and have the class tied in to their curriculum. Students would complete an online test based upon the class for credit. This makes sense but faculty think otherwise. Professors naively believe that students already know how to use a library or that library instruction isn't important!

I recently finished a book called The Tao of Bruce Lee . Just before Christmas I bought an Everlast punching bag that has a stand. It wasn't on sale ($150) but is worth the money. This model is cheaper but looks similar. I was able to work out on Dec. 31 and went on Dad's treadmill and did a bunch of crunches and pushups. But I need to get back into lifting - will do it this weekend!

We managed to see Craig and Malini at the Denver Airport during our long olayover. Hopefully I convinced them to visit this year. Well, that's all for now - I need to go home and kick the bag a bit! Later...
posted by Michael at 8:14 PM