We need a librarian in the OR, stat!

I'm assuming that most of you know about the unfortunate news of Gary Coleman's death. I've read that he fell and hit his head, and was taken to the hospital, where his condition worsened until he passed.

I'm not trying to make light of the situation here, but it brought about a perfect example of how odd my job can be at times. Because on the morning that this happened, one of my co-workers got a call at the library and was asked, "So what's the update on Gary Coleman?"

Excuse me? Let me just run down to the ICU and check. We're not working in a newsroom, people. Do you need a book? Or would you like to know how late we're open? I can help you with that.

Not that she didn't look it up for him. She did. I've actually had patrons tell me that people tell them if they ever have a question about anything, just call the librarians at the _____ library and they'll look it up for you. And it's true, we will. But if it's especially ridiculous we WILL make jokes about you for awhile.

*Just a note: things I do NOT consider ridiculous: trashy romance novels, books about how to make love, how to identify a strange skin fungus, or anything that you might be scared to ask a librarian. I'm a professional and when I get questions like these I don't think any more of it than I would for a copy of Harry Potter. The things I do think are funny are the people who call and ask for the price of apples at a local market or the example above. So breathe easy and go ahead and ask your librarian where to find the Star Wars section.

Information Age

Sometimes I use an online recipe planner called TastyPlanner.com. I like this site because you can choose what recipes you want to make for the week, and it will build a grocery list for you. Many users have submitted their recipes and you can search for something, or you can add your own recipes and keep them public or private. The whole grocery-list-aspect makes it tempting to put everything on the list that you will need to buy for the week. I came across a good example of this the other day:

Bowl of Cheerios

Ingredients
2 cups Milk, 1 cup Cheerios

Instructions
Put the Cheerios into a bowl, then cover them with the milk.



I found it pretty funny, but then I saw this in the comments:

Rappo
wrote on March 05, 2008

I tried to make this, but I just couldn’t get it to turn out right at first. Some things I’ve learned:

- A bowl is essential. I tried with a dinner plate first and that did not work.

- The Chef failed to mention this, so I thought I’d help you guys out: you need a SPOON — forks do NOT work.

- This dish does NOT keep well. I wanted to get a head start and prepare my meals for the week and save them. Needless to say, this didn’t keep as well as I thought (and yes, I tried freezing too!).

So helpful! Isn't it great what you can learn on the internet?