The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Globe of Blogs
I listed this site on Globe of Blogs, but am having a hard time with how the linking actually works. So I am trying it in a post, rather than in the layout.
Edit: It seems the answer is forget the fancy buttons and just link it!
Spring Cleaning
Do you have a “to be read” pile of books?
Mine is a seven shelf bookcase. And yesterday it was full up. Well – full up except for the small corner where I keep a small portrait that a friend painted of one of my dogs. But still – seven freakin’ shelves.
I looked at the shelf and asked myself, of all of these books, which am I still excited about reading? I pulled 10-ish off the shelf and took them to the Library to donate to Friends.
Another volunteer, a really nice lady, was at the desk. She lists books online, too. She said my books were in terrific condition and was happy to look them up to see if they were worth anything on Amazon. I told her they were in great condition because I hadn’t read them yet. Then I had to explain that between our Used Book Store and the clearance section of Half Price Books, I hardly ever pay more than a dollar for a book. So it was probably worth it to have the shelf space back.
So I spend money unnecessarily. Sue me.
She mentioned that our director had called a meeting to talk about “Marketing”. I am not sure, but she might have meant a meeting of the Friends board, and that might be to present some of the material from the marketing plan I did last term. And now I am nervous.
Fostering Manu
Can’t Even Come Up With a Title for This
I am a member of Best Friends Animal Society and their newletter had a link to this picture. I can convince Kiwi the Grey to go in the sink. But this is ridiculous – so I had to share.
Amazon Stalking
At the Library last night, I went through three boxes of books. Seven were worth listing, and one might be worth $125, which is huge.
On two occassions, a book I listed on a Thursday at the Library sold before I even got home. One was a Christian-themed sex manual and last week there was a style guide. But I keep stalking the web site and we aren’t doing quite so well.
However, we have a notepad on the desk to leave each other notes, and the director left one saying that the in-store sales were up $100 last week from the week before. And that the week before was up $100 from the week before that.
Makes sense, with all of the snow. We were actually closed for three days that I can recall. So I am going to take this note as a sign of Spring.
Star Wars Stories
I added the Star Wars Videos down the side because I like the feature. Then I decided that it really isn’t part of my “juggling work, school and volunteering” theme.
I don’t care. But I guess I should include some Star Wars stories:
My family does not have the same taste in anything, but the Star Wars movies we all loved. (And Queen is the only band we all like, but that is a different story). I am not so geeky that I have read all of the novels, or go to conventions, or try to verify the scientific blahblahblah. But I am this geeky:
The picture above was drawn by the young son of a co-worker. He e-mailed it over with no explanation and said:
Him: Can you identify this?
Me: That is Yoda fighting the Emperor at the end of Episode III.
Him: Actually,, it is Yoda fighting Darth Vader, but that is close enough.
Me: Darth Vader never fought Yoda.
Him: I know.
Me: Oh. So you mean..he used his imagination or something?
Just to tell another story and out my brother, Scott – one summer when I was in college, John Williams was conducting the CSO at the Ravinia Festival. All of my friends were going and in a moment of extreme fraternal magnanimity, I invited Scott. He was 15 or 16 at the time, and tickets for student were free. We were sitting on our blanket playing cards when my friend Noah (and you have to picture it):
Turned a paper plate upside down and placed a marshmallow on it, randomly off-center. In his other hand, he had a pretzel stick. He said, “OK – what is this?” and dropped the pretzel stick onto the upside down paper plate. My brother did not blink:
Scott: It is Luke Skywalker falling from the bottom of Cloud city onto the Millennium Falcon at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
Noah: OK, you’re in.
On My Way Home
I got an e-mail yesterday at work from Rich, the director of the Refuge. He is a cop and was on duty for 36 hours straight, so he asked me to stop by the Refuge – which is actually his house – to shut the place down for the night.
Mostly, this involves making sure everyone is in their place, no one is bleeding (which can happen if a feather breaks awkwardly, or the bird plucks its feathers) and cover them up for the night.
I have told Rich that he should ask for help more often. He is worried about asking to much of volunteers. So when he actually asks, I do my best to be responsive. But yesterday, I really wanted to do my homework. And it was my turn to make dinner. So I compromised and told him that I would stop by on my way home from work, which meant it would still be light out when the birds were put to “bed”. He said it was ok – he would be home by the time the sun came up. How does he ever get to sleep?
So I got there about 4:15. The last set of volunteers had managed to load the dishwasher once. Because water dishes are changed out each day, this means it had to be unloaded and reloaded, and clean dishes set up for the next day’s volunteers. I sometimes feel like the only person that cares about handling this properly – our adoptions director has called me the “dish nazi”. But she wasn’t around back in the day when one load of dirty dishes meant that we had to wait around for the dishwasher just to give a bird fresh water. At 9pm, because there were only two of us and the senior volunteer didn’t get there until 6:30 on a good night.
I did the dishes and set up the trays for the next day. I checked the medication chart and saw that the two birds that get evening medications didn’t get the morning dose until 11am. Too early. Then I gave each bird an almond and covered them up. I got home shortly after 5pm, started dinner and got straight to the homework.
Compromise.
Dirty Secret
In addition to selling books in the Library, UBS sells some online at Amazon. I learned a lot about it while writing my marketing project and, in fact, made several recommendations on enhancing that part of the program.
During that time, I started listing books for UBS. There are only about six of us that list books online. It requires researching the value and being comfortable with the web site. There are so many donated books and so few listing volunteers that we have a closet full of boxed up books waiting for us at all times.
So I have the log in i.d. and password, and every day (sometimes more than once a day), I log in just to see if anything has sold. Almost once a day, we have. And today, it was one of mine, Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign Against the Iroquois.
“Mine”, I say. As if I wrote the book, as opposed of just picking it up from a pile and posting it on a web site. As if the next volunteer wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing, and about the same way, with the same result.
OK – I am just slightly competitive. But it’s all for a good cause, right?
Kiwi the Grey
The Library
I thought this was the coolest thing I had ever heard. For a volunteer gig, I mean. I get to sit in the library for three hours, reading my own books and taking people’s money once in awhile. Sign me right up.
When I started my first class at BU, Principles of Marketing, I found the final project was to write a complete marketing plan. I chose UBS. Our director was unbelievably supportive and I learned a lot. The project only earned a B, but when I sent it over to the UBS director, she said, “I only have scanned this (will read it thoughtfully this weekend), but already I would give you 100+++ “. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why I volunteer.
I wonder if I only managed a “B” because I worried more about being realistic for UBS and less about the actual outline of the assignment? Whatever. I can’t wait to see if any of it can be of practical use.
The Next Dark Age 
