Where to Shelve Me

Kimbra Griffith's Dewey Decimal Section:

940 History of Europe

Kimbra Griffith = 19328178966908 = 193+281+789+669+08 = 1940


Class:
900 History & Geography


Contains:
Travel, biographies, ancient history, and histories of continents.



What it says about you:
You're connected to your past and value the things that have happened to you. You've had some conflicted times in your life, but they've brought you to where you are today and you don't ignore it.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Not sure I agree with the 940, but the description is fairly accurate.

Lazy Blogger

I have not been a good blogger. I meant to add thoughts before now, and just haven't taken the time to do it.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Does it seem late to anyone but me? I have been off the whole month. Turkey Day was never a big deal in my house growing up. My folks didn't eat turkey, and it's not my favorite, either. So we didn't have a big meal. The only real tradition I remember is getting up to watch the Macy's parade and putting up the small Christmas tree in my room. My parents had a 3 foot tall tree for my brother and I. We always put those trees up in our bedrooms on Thanksgiving. We had our own ornaments, too. Mark's were all sports-related, and most of mine were animals. I still have some of them that I now use on our big tree in my own home.

I loved that small tree. I loved it so much, that I continue the tradition with my own kids. Will and Lainey each have their own 3 foot tree that they will put up tomorrow. Will has a collection of penguin ornaments (many that I purchased in Frankenmuth) for his tree. This year, Lainey threw me a curve ball. She wanted to "change" her ornaments. She didn't want the pink ornaments we have always put on her tree. This year she wanted blue ones. Hmmmm. Changing traditions. I was not sure I could buy-in to this. But, I do like blue at Christmas, and it was my dad's favorite color. So, we bought some new blue ornaments. I think she will have a lovely tree. I hope my kids are enjoying this tradition as much as I always did.

10 Random Things About Me

Here are my 10 random things that Helene challenged us to do.

1. I love dark chocolate, which most people know. I like milk chocolate, too, but prefer dark. Strangely, I do not like chocolate chip cookies.

2. I have never seen "It's a Wonderful Life" all the way through. Seen the beginning, the end, and parts of the middle, but never the entire movie in one sitting. Every year I plan to do it, and every year I don't.

3. I LOVE "Family Guy." I know it's rude and crude; I don't want to laugh, but I do. (I just realized that rhymes. That was not intentional.)

4. I read the ending of every book I read before I get to it. Actually, I usually read the first 50 pages to get interested, and then skip to see how it ends. If I like the end, I finish the book. I tried to not do this with "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodie Picoult. BIG MISTAKE!!! I did not read the end of the Harry Potter books first, either, but I did look to see what the last word of the last book was.

5. I still have a stuffed dog, Bridget, that my grandmother gave me when I turned 1. She is in terrible shape (all her fur is gone, you can see where I had to do surgery on her years ago), but she means more to me than any other thing I own. She has a small couch that she sits on in my bedroom. I have given my family instructions to cremate her with me when I'm gone.

6. I've gone skiing once, and I will never go again. The most embarrassing moment of my life happened on a ski slope. I was on the tow rope, going up the baby hill, and I fell. Yes, I fell on the way up. On top of the tow rope. When you fall on a tow rope, it stops. This causes all of the other skiers on the rope to fall, too. I was not the most popular person on the slopes that afternoon.

7. I collect elephants.

8. I have never been to the Ohio State Fair. Well, technically, I was there once since my mom went when she was pregnant with me. But since I don't remember anything, I'm not counting that.

9. The only B I got in library school was in my children's services class. That's a bit embarrassing since that is what I do every day now.

10. My fantasy career would be to be a Broadway singer/actress/dancer. Since I am fairly uncoordinated (see #6), that was not to be. Second fantasy career would be an archaeologist. Since I really don't like heat, bugs or the outdoors in general, it's probably a better fantasy career than a reality. I'm glad I fell into libraries. If I wasn't doing this, I would probably be a teacher.

Well, there you have it. 10 random things about me. They seem fairly boring to me (no meeting famous people or living in fabulous places). I look forward to reading everyone else's random things.

Edit: just remembered one I wanted to include.
11. My full name is Kimbra, not Kimberly. I hated it when I was a kid, because it was different. Now, I really like it and get mildly ticked when people assume my knick-name is short for Kimberly.

Mazza Moments

I attended the Mazza Weekend Conference this weekend. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Mazza Museum is part of the University of Findlay. It celebrates the art of picture books. The museum has original art from thousands of picture books displayed as gallery art. It is inspirational and educational. Every November, they bring in several artists to talk about their work. Here are my favorite moments from those authors this year:

Marla Frazee (Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever): "Illustrating a book is like house hunting. There are many beautiful ones you want to look at, but few you'd actually want to move into." Picture book art must carry as much of the story of the book as the text does. It propels the action and provides surprise. When the text and the art are the same, it falls flat. But when the text and the art are different, that is the surprise and the humor. (See her book "Everywhere Babies" for an example of what she is talking about. The text is sweet, but the illustration is of a messy baby.) "Baby steps are not easy! The first step we take is always the hardest." Sales and marketing have much more to do with picture book design than we realize. If that department doesn't "get" the book, forget any promotion for sales. Her latest book went through several cover designs and title changes before marketing would back it.

Beth Peck (How Many Days to America): spoke mostly about her research process for her newest book, "Just like Josh Gibson." Part of her illustration process is to photocopy her art to make it darker. For 7 years, she went to the local pharmacy to use their copier. She finally got her own copier for her studio.

Alexander Stadler (Beverly Billinglsy books): very funny!! Probably my favorite presenter. His first book was rejected 25 times. When finally picked up, he was told "You can't write, but you can draw." His editor now claims she never said that! He has moved from picture books into j fiction (semi-graphic novels "Julian Rodriguez" books--published in Spanish and English). He is now working on a YA novel, too. Detail is what makes the story--in the text and in the drawings.

Marc Tyler Nobleman (Boys of Steel): Mainly an author, but also a cartoonist. His latest chronicles the life of the 2 guys that created Superman before it was basically stolen by DC Comics. I did not know that they were from Cleveland! He also talked about how details are important, even if the author/illustrator is the only one who knows about them. For example, he found out that Joe, the Superman illustrator, was left-handed. So, in every picture that shows him drawing, he is doing it left-handed. Most people won't realize that, but it was important to him to be accurate.

Christy Hale (Those Calculating Crows): When she was in 5th grade, her teacher read them "Harriet the Spy". She and her best friend spent the summer running their own detective agency, complete with disguises. While working on the "Elizabeti" books, she had to get permission from the publisher to contact the author. (This is frowned upon in the publishing world, for some reason.) She wanted more info about Tanzania, and the author sent her some fabric that she eventually worked into the designs for the characters' clothing.

Kevin Hawkes (Library Lion): another amusing presenter. Humor has to play a part in his illustrations, even for non-fiction books. He illustrated 'The Librarian who measured the Earth" and did tons of research on ancient Greece. At one time, the library in Alexandria was largest library in the world. Now, there is nothing left. Hawkes believes this is due to "budget cuts." He changed his style greatly to illustrate "Library Lion" on purpose. He moved around a lot as a kid, and the library was the one constant he had. The books were his friends that never changed. So, he wanted the pictures to feel warm and like "comfort food." "They couldn't be wild like my other stuff."

I encourage you to make the trip up to Mazza just to see the museum. It is well worth the trip!

Thing #23: The End

I am so sad to see this program end. I have felt more energized by this training than any other in recent memory (except for BOP). I remember having a similar reaction to STYLE when we first rolled it out, but I can't really remember any other training that I immediately put to use and was sad to see end. I guess lifelong learning itself really never ends, but I will miss having a new thing to discover and play with every week.

My favorite dicsoveries, the things that I will continue to use, are blogging (a surprise), Flickr and the image generators, Google Docs and Google reader, YouTube, and of course, Twitter. I am also counting Firefox in with these favorites even though it wasn't an official thing. I had heard about it, but didn't really know much about it. If it hadn't been for the 23 Things (Twitter especially), I would never have tried Firefox. I love it now. It's actually annoying when I have to use IE for CML applications.

I looked back at the lifelong learning attributes. I still see problems as problems, not challenges. I probably always will. The difference now, though, is that I am not as afraid to ask for help. (A BOP skill, too: asking.) I also value playing more as a learning tool, too. I always knew I needed to use a new skill or tool awhile (break it) before I felt like I knew what I was doing. I realize now this is playing. I hope CML builds play time into any new initiatives it begins.

An unexpected outcome from this endeavor has been "meeting" people around the system. I have never met silvermarquis or shoebrarian, but I enjoy reading their blogs and following them on Twitter. I have learned things about my co-workers I probably wouldn't have learned otherwise.

I can't really think of anything I would do to improve the program. When staff were struggling to complete each thing in the allotted time, the time was extended. I am completely baffled by the staff who didn't want to even try the program. I've heard lots of folks say, "I don't have time." You don't have time to learn something new? You don't have time to improve your skills? I don't get it. This stuff isn't going away. I, for one, was tired of my customers (and kids) knowing more than I did. I'm still not the best at troubleshooting and figuring out the techy ends of these things, but I am glad I know more about using them. I hope the 23 Things stay posted somewhere. Maybe staff who didn't try it the first time through will give it a try later. If this program were offered with 23 new things, I would be the first to sign up!

Thing #22: MOLDI

Well, I have to say I was not impressed with MOLDI. There were more books than I had thought there would be, but they usually only had one copy. And the titles I liked were all checked out. I did manage to find a book I thought would be interesting. I checked it out, but couldn't get the software to load correctly. I'll have to ask lolzrock to show me what I was doing wrong later. I read her post and she has used this system successfully before. But,right now, I have an audio book checked out that I can't listen to. That is frustrating. I do like that the book is automatically checked in when it is due. Too bad we can't have the same convenience with actual books!
I also looked at the music selections, because I do like to listen to music in my office every now and then. But the selections were all classical. I'm not a huge fan of classical music. Some pieces, yes, but overall, no.
I didn't try the videos yet. I assume I won't be able to watch the top rentals.