Why I like my place of work

One of the best things about working on a large campus is that something is always going on. Sometimes it's the big things like plays, concerts and art shows. Some times it's the little things. Today in the tunnel there where several booths set up for the students and other general passerby. Not only did I get to learn about asthma, healthy eating and job opportunities I also got free popcorn and a doughnut egg (more commonly known as a Timbit). It's the constant whirl of activity and change that keeps this place interesting, even at it's worst.

Literature map

So this is cool, apparently you put a writer's name in and it makes a map of other authors a reader is likely to enjoy. Great for reader's advisory, so long as you don't need to go into detail about why an author is liked. It's a great first step for doing research on your own.

Here's a link, go put your own authors in and try it! http://www.literature-map.com/

Songza

So I found a cool new music thing! Finally! It's called Songza, obviously, and it's free!

So if you log in online or on your phone, you get to a "concierge" Who asks you what mood you are in limited by the time of day (Wednesday has "cooking dinner," "reading," and "winding down," etc... as moods) and then offers some musical genres to pick from. It's a little like Stereomood, but I think it's a bit better because you can pick the types of music you like as well as your feelings.

I find I like this feature the most because it's allowing me to find genres that I usually wouldn't listen to. For instance I find I like folk metal, even though I didn't know that existed before this program. After all you have to respect a genre that uses harpsichords and bagpipes with skill. Of course I also listen to styles I already love, I'm guilty listening to a show tunes playlist right now my sister's opinion be damned. :P

One limiting factor is that when I first started listening on my phone the only genre it would give me was indie music. Apparently this was because it was using the three or four songs already on my phone to decide what I liked. It isn't smart enough to know that those aren't a good enough sample, ha ha. Oh and it also gives you the oportuninty to buy songs you especially like. I haven't tried that out yet, but I suspect that this is why they can offer free music so if something awesome comes up I probably will.

I am bad and I should feel bad

Turns out I don't use most of the cool tools that ifttt connects for you. Now I have to go learn all of the things. That gets both a :( and a :) from me. I swear I will get somewhat tech savvy one of these days!

IFTTT is a gift for lazy people

So ifttt stands for "if This then That" and it connects different media actions for you. You can set it up (for instance) to post to Facebook every time you create a blog post. You can get it to do so many different things automatically and without thought on your part, kind of like your lungs breathing in air or your heart beating. It can be a great time saver, or a new way to waste it. I'll let you know how it turns out for me.

A new thing I'm trying

So I'm going to try out the brainchild of Library 23 things. It's called Year for Productivity and it looks really great. Lets see how far I get! http://www.academicpkm.org/

Bunny Drop

This is a series I would hesitate to add to a collection read by youngsters. Not because of violence or sex, but because of the implications of some of the relationships involved. Let me explain a little first... (Huge, huge Spoiler alert a head!)


Usagi drop follows Daikichi, a grown man on the rise in his field and Rin, the orphaned daughter of his grandfather. Rin is seen as a bit of a scandal because the grandfather was quite old, and the mother is a complete unknown to the family. After the grandfather's death no one wants to raise Rin and so Daikichi, who is single and awkward, blurts out that he will take Rin in. Most of the stories from there follow them as they grow into a family and raise Rin. This is all done in the sweetest style and you just feel so heart warmed watching it. The sacrifices he makes for this little girl simply because it's the right thing to do make you wish that every family could be like theirs. After a very short time he comes to love her and she grows to trust him and their days are spent gently living.

This is the point that the anime cuts off. Since I came to the story through the anime I then went to search out the manga and was surprised to see the second part. About ten years later Rin is in high school and still living with Daikichi who is still single. Okay, that's fine because we can follow Rin as she matures and eventually falls in love and has her own family. Still very sweet, except she has her sights on Daikichi... ummm, she's his aunt isn't she?

Turns out that she's not, and is no biological relation to the man who raised her. That hurdle being passed they then decide to continue on as husband and wife. I find this a little skeezy personally, since the man did raise her, and such. It's a little bit to close to incest to me. I really liked the early half, and even the attempt at making this relationship happen might have gotten to me if I didn't think things through. It's a well told story, but if you run a library I'd read the whole thing before buying it for your shelves.