The Bowler Derbies Take Silver!

In the team costume contest that is. Our bowling score bottomed out but we made up for it with team spirit.

I often refer to October as "the most wonderful time of the year" and it seems I work for an organization that has much the same sentiment. Apparently, costume bowling night is the biggest Anythink social event of the year. All kinds of people showed up to it too - including:

David Bowie

the Tooth Fairy (Rosie the Riveter too)

and The Dude (*gold star to anyone who can guess what she made her beard out of...)

Matt originally planned to go as Alex DeLarge from the Clockwork Orange (as he had white temple clothes and a bowler to work with) but he opted out when his eye makeup failed and went for this look:

Though we originally thought that he would be my "sugar daddy", we decided that he was way too under dressed to match my flashy look and perhaps even a decade too late. We decided he could be the middle class banker look of the 30s. An interesting costume in today's economic context I think but it just came together on its own when we found a cheap waistcoat at Unique Thrift Store and a black tie at TJ Maxx not more than half an hour before bowling time. Still, we were told more than once we made a dynamite couple's costume. It was fun hanging on his arm with one hand with my straw cigarette in the other. I felt absolutely smashing.

So indeed, it made for a most wonderful time this autumnal season. There are still many festivities to anticipate too! Glow-in-the-dark party with my tweens and teens on Thursday, ward Halloween costume and chili event on Saturday (they asked us all to dress up from the scriptures. Matt is planning on going as the iron rod and me the mist of darkness. perhaps more on that later), and library movie night on Halloween itself. Oh and we have been eating squash and pumpkin everything these last few weeks thanks to our friends garden. A very happy October to us all!

*Karo syrup and tea leaves...

And in other news, I have officially joined a master's swim team. I now swim in the wake of Amazon women and am learning all kinds of things that are wrong with several of my strokes. It is humbling and inspiring and I believe the best way to improve. Though I find myself constantly reminding myself what my cross country coach used to say "what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger". Hopefully I can remember that the day we swim 4K.

We've Reached the Star Trek Threshold People...

The week before Matt and I left for Scotland, we had only just finished the 1st season of Mad Men and had all kinds of Instant Queue shows waiting for us once we got back to a stateside IP address. When we first got back we had a bit of a smorgasbord of television series to catch up with. And with the new seasons of Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, and The Middle it seemed like there would be plenty to keep us busy. But it turns out that when you move to a place where you don't know anyone (read: don't have many friends) and have limited funding, well, you can burn through that kind of stuff pretty fast.

And so, we have reached a new avenue in our lives together (or should I say a new frontier?) and have climbed aboard the Star Trek wagon (or should I say space ship?). You know things are intense when you hear "Whoa, cool! They just added "Deep Space Nine" to Instant Queue. They took it off for awhile but then put it back on." I made fun of Matt until I realized it was my turn to come up with an idea for a show to watch before we went to bed tonight and I couldn't come up with anything. Matt offered "Hey, well. Star Trek is pretty good if you can get over the space thing."

So here we are tonight, watching Star Trek: the next generation. Disclaimers aside ("Yeah the special effects aren't good, so that is kinda distracting sometimes." Matt admits. "And their uniforms are kinda funny..." etc)

Other than that, we have reached the Star Trek threshold. And so far, I have to say, it is an okay place to be in life. Maybe we can add this to our list of things that make us more "adult" (afterall, we do own a Subaru and have 9-5 working schedules...) Either way, it has spurred a number of questions we are now seeking to answer like:

"What do the different colors of uniforms refer to?"

"Is Data sentient afterall?"

"What happened to Jordi Laforge's eyes anyway?"

"Do some of these characters have X-Men-like powers? What's the deal with the lady that can read minds?"

Full Immersion Language Learning

When I moved to Texas, I learned the art of using terms like "y'all" and "fixin' to" and "mess of..." etc.

When I moved to Scotland, I learned the art of British English. "Y'all" became "Yous" and "Pants" quickly became "Trousers" (the learning curve was much sharper on the later).

Though Colorado is not known for its rich culture and linguistic intrigues, Anythink makes up for it three fold. And being culturally committed to where I am planted, I am immersing myself in the "Anythink" way so that I can count myself not only a "team player" but also be part of "The Revolution of the Rangeview Library District".

And so these are things I am learning to say:

 - I am not an "employee" - I am an "Anythinker"

 - I don't serve "patrons" - I serve "customers"

- I am not a "Librarian" - I am a "Guide". This one was a wee bit tricky for me as I worked hard for two years in school to earn the official "librarian" title but a "Teen Guide" I am.

 - Nonfiction is not organized by Dewey or Subject, rather it is "Wordthink".

- I don't do "book talks" - I do "book pitches" or give the latest "book buzz"

- I don't wait for questions at the "reference desk". I hang out close to the "front perch" or "tech perch" or "children's perch" etc so that I available to answer questions when they arise.

It may all sound funny at first but I think I am finally starting to get the hang of it. One thing is for sure though. The easiest way to adapt to a new culture, no matter how foreign, is simply to embrace it. I am a full immersion learning when it comes to things like this (judging by my last 3 moves in the last 3 1/2 years). Though that may give you some kind of explanation if all of the sudden my terms for things get a wee bit "hip" or "Anythinky" for the likes of myself. I am not a poser. It is just that, at the moment, I am an Anythinker...

So much to love about cold weather...

Cold autumnal running, hot baths with a crossword puzzle, herbal tea!, soup, pumpkin and squash everything, flannel pyjamas....

And for some reason, it just seems so fitting to watch my fill of Pingu these days. If you are unfamiliar, may I direct you to Netflix instant queue? They have the definitive collection I believe. For anyone who possibly knows this character already, may I pose the question: Is it "NOOK NOOK" or "NOOT NOOT"?

Sweetbreads.

Matt came home tonight from the library with a handful of CDs, the 3rd HP movie and The Country Cooking of Ireland. The cookbook has a beautiful cover with gorgeous accompanying photographs of the dishes, as every good cookbook should.

Though the book is full of some appealing savory soup recipes (leek and oatmeal soup - intriguing...) and comfort foods done right (proper shepard's pie!), there are a fair share of untouchables woven throughout. While paging through some of the recipes I came across the following:

- Roasted Loin and Venison
- Collard Head (exactly what it sounds like)
- Creamed Sweetbreads
- Lamb's Liver with Whisky Cream Sauce
- Michalemas Goose
- Leek and Black Pudding Pizza

It is a hefty book. Perhaps even comprehensive of the Irish culinary culture (there is certainly things from all over the spectrum). And it got me thinking. Perhaps I should do my own Julie and Julia narcissistic musings and cook my way through this cookbook - variety meats and all.

Then I got thinking again. That is actually a terrible idea. How about I just cook the things that appeal to me in that cookbook and not write much about it since there is really nothing significant about how it relates to my life. Afterall, I find no life metaphors in head cheese or blood sausage and no doubt you wouldn't want to hear them if I did. Still, perhaps if something goes right with one of the more approachable recipes, I'll let you know about it:)

In the meantime, here is what Mr. Andy B has found profound about such novelties.

Daniel Radcliff v. Hugh Grant

Watching "4 Weddings and a Funeral" tonight. Tell me that Hugh Grant in his "height of the 90s" hair and charm phase isn't Harry Potter at age 35...

Can't help but picture him saying something like "Expecto Patronus!" here.

SCIENCE! museum

So a good friend of mine is really keen on science. So keen on it in fact that she studied it to become a science teacher to boot. Not only was she known for sharing her insights on a hike when she saw a weird bug or something the like but she also tried her darndest to get middle schoolers excited about all things science while student teaching. You can imagine how quick this would take even the greatest enthusiast to wits end though when trying to instill passion for science within an adolescent. Out of desperation she started giving out bonus points (if I remember my story right) to any kid who would just yell out the word "SCIENCE!" while looking through a magnifying glass or reading something from the textbook. I am not sure how this "experiment" worked out but it seemed like a valiant effort if nothing else.

I thought of her this last weekend when I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. This is my 3rd time there, my first time being about the age that teachers were making me yell out their subject areas like explictives to get me enthused about learning. Though I am most definitely an art museum goer-type, this place is truly awesome/cool/interesting enough that I indeed felt like shouting out "SCIENCE!" more than once while walking through.

Truly this is a place where "learning is fun!" and not in a School House Rock sort of way either. This is beyond that. I thought my favorite bit would be the rocks....

Or perhaps learning about flightless birds in the taxidermy animal learning area...

That was until, though, I got to the special T-Rex exhibit. Would that my wee nephew Tom could have oooohed and aaaahed over the animated, roaring dinos and ogled over the T-Rex bones! Man was that stellar! Lucky for me, I didn't notice the "no pictures please" signs until I had already snapped a few...

So yeah. SCIENCE! can be fun stuff . It just takes a bit of vision or someone to bring it to life sometimes to reach a few of us. But well worth it once it does.

A New Blog is Born...

So to spare BakedGoodsandBads from becoming a solely library/booky blog, I have decided it is time to expand these adventures into their own forum. What will this entail? Well, I suppose I will see where it goes but to start there will be stories, book thoughts and a wee bit of programming brainstorming and probably musings on life metaphors found in library work. Though some of these things may make in into BakedGoods, this will be an exclusive forum for all things library. Let me know if you are interested in antics such as these. Leave your name, number and short message (or actually just email address) and I will get back to you with an invite to:

NonfictionInFiction.blogspot.com

Otherwise, BakedGoods will be sure to keep the latest updates on how the Sweeneys continue to take the Mile Hile City (or its suburbs if we're honest - ha!) by storm.

Cheers,

Cate

Tasting Colorado...

Aside from my library life, Matt and I have been trying to sample some of the Denver offerings to help us fall in love with this place, and thus stop mourning how much we miss Edinburgh and Austin... Labor Day weekend included a few exploits in the name of adventure, including a trip downtown Denver for the "Taste of Colorado" festival.

We had pretty high hopes for what we may experience with a festival promising newbies like us some good Colorado flavor. I'd like to say that the glorified carnival it ended up being was all we had hoped for, but alas, it was a bona fide disappointment. Though it turns out that disappointments can be entertaining fare when you stumble upon weird phenomenons set up like this children's activity:

booths that leave much to the imagination (any ideas on what this is getting at? or are the Scots suddenly the Amish woodworkers of home improvements these days?)

and someone inexplicably dressed up as a shrimp.

It is hard to say the effort was a wash as Matt and I never cease to be surprised at how much fun it is to have a laugh at the absurd and the disappointing. Needless to say, it was a entertaining night out together.

Not to be discouraged by last weekend's let-down event, Matt and I took a trip up to Boulder for a tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory. This ended up being an hour of filled with all kinds of interesting tea trivia (Did you know that the tea leaves grow best at humidity, altitude, and high temperatures? Or did you know that white tea is simply picked first while the leaves are white while green tea when they are more ripe and black are oxidized?). It also included some overwhelmingly marvelous smells (the mint room made your eyes water with heaven itself!), cool views of robots and factory people at work (worthy of a Mr. Roger's Picture Picture episode), and a thrilling opportunity to for Matt to sport a beard-net. It was a proud moment for us both:)

We also got to feel like real connoisseurs in the tea tasting room.

The whole experience left us with even more enthusiasm for herbal tea drinking. We are now anxiously awaiting cooler weather...

In other news, Matt bought himself a red bow tie at a Labor Day sale at Dillard's. He is still learning how to tie it but man! I think he is going to be one smart-looking fellow when it all comes together.

A Public Librarian's Star Trek Convention

So can I nerd-out on you right now? Public librarian-style, that is. While meeting with HR this week to set up the ol' health benefits and a few things, I asked about an upcoming training the library would be having for Columbus Day. They told me that it was going to be a pretty cool set up and in passing mentioned that the keynote speaker would be Nancy Pearl.

"Nancy Pearl?!!"

Oh yeah, didn't I already know that?

No. I didn't. But I am glad to know that I can spend my next couple months becoming Trekie-level of excited about getting to hear from the legend herself. Afterall, this is a public librarian who not only has her own Wikipedia page and series of hugely popular reader advisory reference books. Not only has she contributed to NPR on subjects like the upcoming Harry Potter installments. But this lady has been made into her own action figure. Come on - admit that is pretty cool. Tell me, do you have to be a library nerd to think that is impressive?

In the meantime, I need to come up with a list of books to do some "booktalks" or "book pitches" for that training day as well. I am think of doing a series of books under the theme of ...

"Books for Reluctant Boy Readers":
1. Airman by Eoin Colfer
2. Looking for Alaska or An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
4. Shakleton's Stowaway
5. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief  by Rick Riordan
6....etc

or

"Great Classroom Read Alouds to Recommend to Teachers"
1. The Truth About Georgie
2. Most any Roald Dahl book
3. How to Eat Fried Worms
4. The Graveyard Book or another Neil Gaiman
5.....etc

Any suggestions to add to either of those lists? Would love your good reads input. Though maybe that Nancy Pearl will also offer some last minute inspiration:)