In the News

Everybody knows Virgin airlines, right? Which is headed up by Sir Richard Branson? We're all on board? Good.

Virgin received a letter of complaint recently, and for some reason it was forwarded all the way to Sir Branson himself. His response? He actually called the guy up to talk about it.

Now what, you must be thinking, could this letter have contained to be so deserving that Sir Branson would call Joe Schmo?

Read it for yourself.

7 days so far...

It's day 7 and I'm 7/7 on my workout schedule. A couple of days ago the wii asked me for updated information on weight, measurements, how many push-ups/crunches/squats I can do now, resting and elevated heart rates, etc. I'm slightly improved in every category (okay, all but one - thigh measurement, which is exactly the same. But there was also one category that I vastly improved in - number of squats. Coincidence? You decide.)

14 more days to a habit...

21 days to make a habit

I heard recently that it takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit. Seems reasonable. So I thought, "If I picked one goal and did it everyday for 21 days, maybe when I'm done I'll keep going because it'll be a habit by then."

So guess what I picked for my first goal?


That's right. Maya!
(original post here)

I'm on day three. I'm shooting for at least 15 minutes every day, but today I did a half hour. And it was so fun that I'm even thinking about doing another 15 minutes right now... hold back... don't want to overdo it...
Really, it's fun. And today I became a "bronze member" which basically means I unlocked a new workout area and music choice! But the cool thing about today was that I finally got past "Omg, I think my arms may fall off" to the point where my stamina kicked in and that warm glow goes up and down your limbs and you think, "Omg, I could keep going." Plus, I'm hurting in all sorts of muscles I didn't even know I had! It's not so bad, whenever I move and a muscle hurts, I feel proud of myself.

...Another 15 minutes won't hurt. (much?) [tosses laptop aside]

Happy Place

The other day I was trying to think of some place relaxing and peaceful. I finally thought of one: the ocean outside my grandparent's house in Maui in the morning. Early in the day, the waves are mellow and hardly move you at all, and that makes the water so clear that you can see right to the bottom. It's the only time of day that happens. I was feeling so good just from the thought of it that I put a little movie together from the video I took on my last morning there. For the full effect I threw a little Coldplay on there, too.

Now when I watch it I get a happyyy feeling {complacent smile here}.



Note: It's not enthralling, especially with this low resolution. But mellow out and watch the ripples... you might enjoy it. (In the clear video, you can see the ripples of sunlight on the sand at the bottom of the water, and all the coral floating around)

=)

Don't miss today's cake wrecks post.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-suzy-needs-therapy.html

Newsletter from the American Library Association

Each week the ALA releases a newsletter, but today I got a "Special Tough Economy Issue"

Scrolling down, looking at the headlines, it starts to tell a story:

What would you tell President Obama?: What library issues are the most important for ALA members to share with the incoming administration?
ALA requests stimulus funding for libraries
Why federal funding matters to libraries
Contact Congress now
ALA releases tough economy toolkit
Seven ways the public library can help in a tough economy
House releases stimulus bill . . .
. . . but lacks aid to public libraries
State funding for public libraries on decline
Surge in library usage covered by national media
Folks are flocking to the library
The role of libraries in hard times
Recessions and their impact on libraries
The small public library survival guide
The quality library: In an environment of budget cuts and freezes, librarians must keep a tight rein on costs and inefficiencies.

Sounds rough. It's especially ironic that library budgets are being cut (including budgets at my library - in a bad way), and yet library usage is way up, and arguably more important now that it ever has been before. At my library, recent cuts include a big chunk of funding for our summer reading program, the annual Valentine's day ball has been scrapped, book-buying budgets have been cut (and halved for some sections), and my personal least favorite, the program that held free family movies every Friday night has ended. I've also been reading about library closings all over the country, especially in heavily populated areas.
Here's a link to my favorite article on the list, which talks about 7 big ways that libraries help in bad economic times. But if our funding continues to be cut, all that usefulness goes down the tubes. Keep libraries in mind when you're making your mental lists of economic crisis losses.

Librarian Serendipities

The title of this book makes me giggle.