Apparently, I am Mommy Dearest...sigh

Oh, I already knew that I hated wire hangers. I thought that's where I parted ways with Joan Crawford. Apparently, I have one more thing in common with her...child abuse. Sure, my child is four-legged and furry, but it makes me no less of a monster. Yesterday morning, I didn't see Thor after a certain point in the morning. I intended to do a sweep of the house to check on his whereabouts, but alas, I got distracted and left without checking. I know, I know. This was at 8:30 AM. My husband, Bob, usually gets home around 4 or so. Where was my poor fuzzy boy all day? He was locked in the closet by his cruel and evil human. I actually shut him inside the closet and left him there all day. How rotten am I? I'm pretty rotten, as pointed out to me repeatedly by Bob. Repeatedly. Over. And over. You can be sure that I didn't lock him in there this morning. Really, though, there was no need to check. He didn't venture anywhere near those closet doors. I guess I owe the poor boy some treats. He looks pretty traumatized in that picture, doesn't he?

SHEOS

Oh, please, tell me someone out there actually gets the obscure TV reference in my posting title. I would never admit this to my husband (so let's all hope he doesn't bother reading my blog), but I actually have (*gasp*) too many shoes. Oh yes, I actually said it. Perhaps I have an addiction. I like to think that I just want to be prepared by having a shoe for every occasion. However, with a certain number of shoes, one must become more organized in order to maximize the usefulness of a collection. And that, my friends, has become my downfall. Obviously, a seasonal shift is necessary. I simply don't have the space to keep all of my shoes in one place at one time. I don't have enough room to keep my shoes in my clothes closet! I tend to come home and kick off my shoes in the kitchen. They usually stay there. I end up going back to those same shoes over and over again because it's easy. So, I pose the question, how do you keep your shoes organized? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Back in the Blogging Saddle Again

Oh, it's been so, so long since I've blogged (March, apparently). Why, you ask? Overindulgence, I say! I had one blog devoted to reviewing every book I read. Nice idea, but really, isn't it so much easier with Shelfari? I thought it might be fun to blog about the movies I watch. Considering the number of movies my husband and I sometimes watch, it was actually a pretty daunting task. I found myself longing for a Shelfari for movies. I've been trying out Flixster as a Facebook app. After trying to keep up with too many blogs, I'm cutting back. My theory is that I'll now be able to drop some posts more regularly. Cross your fingers! I still don't have a theme. Or...maybe I do! I'm going for random ramblings. It's a fine theme, yet not at all stifling! To kick off my rekindled interest in blogging, I'll post a picture of my very own LOLcat. Isn't Thor the cutest(he's the one on the left, just in case there was some confusion).

Shopping, Part Three: Craft Markets and Roadside Stalls

Swazi craft market

Generally, I love roadside craft stalls and craft markets. They're fun and I usually find something unique. Well, at least the stuff is unique once I get it back home. Anway, we travelled to several areas that had craft vendors. There were vendors set up at the tourist overlooks along the Panoramic Route of the Drakensburg Mountains. There was a whole craft market in the Ezulwini Valley of Swaziland. OK, pretty much, there were crafts available for sale everywhere we stopped. Here are the important lessons that I took away from our travel experience (be they right or wrong):

1. You can usually haggle, but don't overdo it. It's sort of fun to dicker over price. It's like a game. Nobody wants to ger ripped off either. Guess what - that includes the merchant. I didn't want to overpay, but if I did, then so what? I don't mean this to sound pompous, but a couple of extra bucks will mean a lot more to the merchant than it will to me. Another part of haggling? Unless you know exactly what something is worth, don't fall prey to the line, "What would you like to pay for this?"


2. Sure, you/your mother/your great aunt made this rare work of art by hand at your home. Yes, I fell for this once. Sometimes it really is true. Be careful and look around. Are the same EXACT items in every other stall? Then it's probably not a lovingly handcrafted item painstakingly made at the merchant's home. Do you love it anyway? Then buy it, for Pete's sake.


3. You might not have to be rude, but sometimes you have to be firm. I tried to be nice and greet all of merchants overseeing the stalls that I browsed in. I know that it's their job to sell to me. That's how people make money. It's not as cool when a merchant tries to tug me into their stall. The hard sell got a whole new meaning for me. After a few stalls, I began to realize that I just had to smile, say goodbye, and walk away. Yup, I actually did hear one or two snide comments, but so what? I'm just not going to buy at every place.


4. Don't take something from the merchant! I learned this lesson in Victoria Falls. A merchant was trying to convince me that his hand-woven basket/charger was truly a work of art. It was nice, but I wasn't even remotely in the market for it. He handed it to me to inspect. I said it was lovely, truly one-of-a-kind, but no thanks, and tried to hand it back. Oops! Unless you're REALLY persistent, if you've touched it, you've bought it. It took about 5 minutes of convincing him to take it back before I got out of there. This was an instance in which I shouldn't have tried to be so polite. I should've just set it down on the ground and walked away.


5. It's free! See Lesson #4 for info on the persistant merchant. At one point, the merchant told me that the basket was free. It was his gift to me. Sure, it was. I wonder what happens if you just say thanks, and walk away with it? I wouldn't do that, because it's taking money out of his pocket, but I do wonder.

Shopping, Part Two: So Many Malls, So Little Time

Oh, yes, there were malls...so many malls. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go into too many of them. *sigh* Fortunately, I was not deprived of the holy grail of South African malls - Gateway: Theatre of Shopping. Modelled after the Mall of America, this sprawling complex houses a rock climbing wall, science museum, IMAX theater, skate park, a bunch of other stuff, and STORES! It was kind of fun to look at some of the chain stores and equate them to similar American counterparts. Mr. Price sure looked a lot like Old Navy. Number of purchases made at giant Gateway Mall? One - a blue slushie. Dammit. Yes, that's it. Every time I cast a lustful glance at a store, my hubby yanked on my leash and told me to heel like a bad puppy. *sigh* On the plus side, I didn't have to lug any crap back to the hotel, which was probably a mile away. Naturally, I insisted on walking, never realizing that part of our journey included no sidewalks and crossing a highway on-ramp.

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town also had many, many shopping opportunities. There were plenty of fine little tourist shops. There were even craft malls. The interesting part of this shopping experience was the high-end shopping. I didn't bother to look in these stores, since it did seem pointless given my proclivity for bargain shopping. I might have made a small exception for the Jimmy Choo store, but it hadn't yet opened for business. It's supposed to open in February 2008. There was even an Aston Martin dealership in the area. Unfortunately, it would've cost a fortune to ship that Vanquish home. Purchases at the V&A Waterfront? Zero. Amount of time spent waiting for the public bus to take us back to the hotel? About 40. The look on my husband's face as he steamed about shopping, public busses, and the heat of the day? Priceless.

There were plenty of cutesy little Mom and Pop shops along the way too. I bought some handmade soap in Knysna. We found a cute little notebook made out of an old license plate for my SIL. Hubby bought some stamps. I think my lack of shopping frenzy was in direct proportion to my lack of excess shopping time. Generally, I need time to case a place before making my purchasing decisions. Since I didn't have a lot of time to shop around, I didn't do a lot of actual buying. Guess I'll have to do more one day when we go back!

Shopping, Part One: The Ones That Got Away

I've been frequently questioned about my shopping experiences in South Africa. Since I do take such pleasure in shopping, this isn't a question I feel I can adequately answer in only one post. I've decided to break it down. This one is all about those things that are still sitting in some shop on another continent (or worse, in some other lucky b*'s closet).

First of all, I was a little disappointed that I couldn't buy trinkets willy-nilly as I did in Egypt. Egypt was like a giant dollar store. Honestly, nearly every necklace I bought was $1US. In all of our travels throughout southern Africa, I didn't encounter a single $1 necklace. Things weren't wildly expensive, but still, $5 per piece adds up much more quickly than $1 per piece. *sigh* Anyway...

For months before leaving on our trip, I dreamed of Oudtshoorn and its ostrich-y bounty. I daydreamed about the perfect pair of pink ostrich leather boots. I even looked up average prices for ostrich leather in the area, but deluded myself that I would get a great buy. OK, yeah, the prices were good, but still SKY HIGH! I didn't have a snowball's chance at my delicious boots, since a freakin' purse was $400US. Well, at least the ones I wanted were that much. Dammit. So, no purse. Or boots.

That brings us to the saga of the springbok purse. The day before going to Oudtshoorn, I saw a lovely red springbok shopper-style purse. It was priced at $136US. I've never paid that kind of money for a single purse. Yes, I know I'm cheap. Anyway, I consoled myself (after petting the purse for several minutes) with daydreams of the impending ostrich leather purchases. We all know how that turned out, but hindsight is always 20/20. To use another cliche, a bird in the hand, blah, blah... I spent the rest of the trip looking for the same springbok purse at the same price. Unfortunately, the prices around Cape Town were WAY higher than in this little store in Knysna. Poop. I almost broke down in Jewel Africa, a tony jewelry store in Cape Town. I'd found a similar purse in natural springbok. I was about to plunk down $150US, and that was after negotiating a significant discount on this thing. These purses are super-posh in South Africa. Suddenly, just as I was about to do the deed, I remembered something. I have seen lamps made from deer legs in the US. I have seen deer heads mounted on walls in the US. And this has, across the board, indicated what? Anyone? DING, DING - REDNECK! Now, this lovely purse would be oh-so-stylish in South Africa. In the US? I might as well display a gun rack and Confederate flag in my vehicle's rear window. Still, I long for the lovely red springbok purse. Somehow that had all of the style with very little of the redneck (despite that fact that it was, indeed, red). Dammit.

I wish I had purchased a shirt. I'm not a fan of printed tees. However, I wanted something trendy that would let everyone know I'm a world traveler. I saw a really cute top in Kruger National Park. I thought about it and decided that I would buy it when we came back to the same area later in the day. Wouldn't you know it? Time ran short and we didn't go back to the same area of the park. Crap. I saw another cutie top in Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront. This was the day that Bob, my hubby, was pissier than usual about shopping. When he reaches that level of pissiness, it actually takes the fun out of shopping for me (and that's hard to do). I tried on one top, it didn't fit, and that was that. So, no shirts. Dammit.

We were presented with some shopping opportunities at Shops of Fragile Things. Fragile Things Store One was the Ngwenya Glass Factory in Swaziland. They made all sorts of pretty glass things, but frankly, I don't need stemware. I don't need a cute little glass hippo. I don't need a huge art glass bowl. What did I need/want (whatever!)? It's like they knew my Jack Skellington-loving self would be in their store on that day. There was this weird, funky, white light bulb-looking skull face with a black glass base. I think you were supposed to put a candle or light inside of it and it would glow. It was nice. It was heavy as heck. It was nearly impossible to get home in one piece considering that we were only on week one of a three week trip. Dammit.

Fragile Thing Store Two was the land of the ostrich egg. I wasn't terribly fond of the painted eggs. There were pretty, but not so much my style. I did like the punched eggs though. When lit from inside, they glowed prettily. However, I could only think of two things: how would I get this home, and if I did, how long would it survive my cat? I had to give the ostrich egg up too. Dammit.

However, I did not walk away completely sans ostrich. I took a picture of this very lovely chandelier that was hanging in the lobby of the Chobe Marine Lodge in Bostwana. I wonder how much this would have cost to ship home (not that it was for sale, but you know what I mean).

Geez? What kind of shots did you need for that trip?!

Many have asked me about the health risks and preparations for traveling to South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Keep in mind that South Africa is not a lot different from the US. There are huge cities, medium cities, small cities, towns, rural areas, etc. By and large, it's just as developed a country as the US. I explain this only because some who questioned me thought that we were traveling to a country without any mod cons.

Lots of people have asked me about drinking the water. In fact, we were warned not to drink the water by our local health department. I think they just say that no matter where you go. Yes, by and large, we could drink the water. No, for the most part, it wasn't just in our hotels. Yes, you could drink a tall, iced drink at most any restaurant. We had plenty of iced drinks. It's just as safe as the water at home (however safe that is, but I'm a germaphobe).

No, we really didn't have to get many shots. We both got hepatitis boosters and made sure our tetanus shots were up to date. Most health care professionals recommend those for walking out your front door. We did have to take anti-malarial tablets for a long time, since we started our travel in a risk area and ended in another risk area. One of the less savvy travelers (quit pointing at me!) learned an important lesson about mosquitos. Insect repellant helps to keep them away! Please, it's not like you knew that before I told you. Why is it that in the 20-minute span of time between walking out my door in Vic Falls and running back to the room for repellant, I got 25 or so bites and Bob, my hubby, got none? Go figure. So far, I remain malaria-free. Also, we had lovely mosquito nets in our room in Vic Falls. Each night, someone came to prepare our room for bedtime, shutting the deck door shutters and unfurling the netting around the bed. This is very pretty and romantic with the lights on. Every little girl dreamed of a canopy bed, right? With all the lights off in a really dark room? Nets are weird and creepy, and I was pretty sure things were in the room. Evil things. Ghosty things. I really shouldn't watch so many horror movies.

So basically, traveling to southern Africa required no fancy medical attention. Being a complete idiot and not wearing insect repellant is statistically unlikely to result in the need for fancy medical attention. If I suddenly get flu-like symptoms, I'll be getting myself to the doctor sooner rather than later. Traveling in southern Africa? Just about as safe as traveling at home, which in either case, depends entirely on where you're traveling.

It's My Turn!

Bob and I posted to our joint vacation blog throughout our trip to southern Africa. It was mostly suitable for viewing by all of our family and friends. My SIL even used it in her classroom with her 5th graders. That's WAY cool! However, since coming home, I've gotten tons of questions about our trip. I thought it might be fun to blog about some of the questions and comments I've gotten, plus some of my own experiences and misconceptions. Keep tuning in for a series of posts!

Another Thing done...checking out MySpace

OK, here's where we see how completely old and lame I really am. Seriously, I must be a total loser. I completely can't get into MySpace. I check things out for about 5 minutes and then I'm bored. So here's what I can see are the uses for MySpace in MyWorld...

• Busting hooligans at work: If you know one of the hooligans, you can often find that person's MySpace page. If you get that far, you can check out who that person's friends are. Before you know it, you have real names and can evict them from the premises when necessary. At the very least, it serves as entertainment. Also, I am really living up to my loser status by using the word "hooligan".
• Checking out people you used to know: Sometimes you can find people that you knew in high school or college, or dated in the past, or whatever. Sometimes it's interesting to see what someone is up to these days. Sometimes it's fun when you find out someone that you didn't really like anyway turned out to be as big a joke as you hoped. That was kinda mean, wasn't it? Anyway, my interest in this one wanes after about 2 minutes. Zzzzzz.

But, that means I've checked another Thing off of my list. One of these days I'll have to check out FaceBook, but I think I'll have similar results.

23 Things Commentary

As a 23 Things participant, I've been asked to reflect on the project. I'm supposed to think about how the 23 Things project has been valuable to me, to Maryland libraries, and/or the library profession in general. Part of the final week's assignment was to blog about likes and dislikes, so you've heard that all before. Recently, I've been asked to lead a library team about technology for adults. Several of the 23 Things will be potentially useful as the team looks at its charter. As for the importance to Maryland libraries? Naturally, it's important to know what's going on in the technological world. These sorts of things will steer how we do business now and in the future. I guess that's why it's important to the library profession in general. Plus, it was fun. We all need a little fun, right?

I've tackled another Thing!

It took the better part of two days, but by gum, I've managed to clean my guest bedroom, paint it, and redecorate it. Hooray! I've even managed to take some before and after pictures so everyone could see the amazing transformation. Below are the before pictures. Things are a little messy. One of my early sewing projects was making the valances for this bedroom. They used to be navy blue with a burgundy flip side. I can't believe how much the blue faded!


And now for the reveal...

It's hard to tell from the photos (lighting is so important!), but the paint is a robin's egg blue. I repurposed some sheers from my family room so I could tie the blues and greens in the bedspread together. I even managed to put pictures in the picture frames. Now I need a nap! This was one Thing that I've been wanting to do for a while, but just haven't had the gumption to do. Of course, most of the crap that was stored in this room is now stored in our home office. We've ordered a futon for that room so my niece has a place to sleep when she comes down. Sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag was cool when she was younger, but it'll start wearing thin soon. So now we've got a week or two before the futon frame comes and we need to do something with all of the junk. I probably shouldn't keep putting off another one of my Things - the yard sale. That would clear a bunch of junk pretty quickly!

Library Elf

Checking this task off of my 43 Things list took a few more days than usual. First of all, my confirmation email got trapped by the spam filter. I waited patiently until 2 PM on the following day to get my digest. I dutifully released my confirmation and was on my way to being a full-fledged member of Library Elf. Hooray! I was pleasantly surprised to see how many MD library systems play ball with them. So what does the Elf do? It sends me an email every few days reminding me that I have overdues and what other junk I have checked out. Why do I care? Well, in a way, I don't. I'm here every day and I can check My Account on our library catalog. Also, I do get those nice little emails from CCPL reminding me when stuff is due. So why do I bother? Well, first of all, it's kind of neat. Secondly, Library Elf keeps reminding me that stuff is overdue. It's really in-my-face about it. With CCPL, I only get one email and then I've forgotten by the time I get home. This morning, the Elf reminded me to get my overdues gathered and get them back (and I did!!!). Otherwise, I tend to forget. A lot.

Oh, those tricky RSS feeds...

I thought I was so super-cool by adding my Netflix queue on my Bloglines page. Everyone could see all of the movies that we were waiting to watch and could comment on my blog and make suggestions. Luckily, I happened to have noticed that any ol' schmuck could also CHANGE my queue! Holy moly! Thank goodness I noticed that little gem of info in time. I could have made my feed private, but then what's the point? Now we know.

Blinkx and you'll miss it

So I checked out Blinkx next. What it does is search for video clips the web over and compile them. I guess it's interesting, but I was looking at tv shows and stuff. I was hoping to find more free stuff. Preview clips don't count for me. Zzzzzz. So, the long and short of this is: (a) I'll have to pay $1.99 each on iTunes to catch up with Monk, or (b) I'll have to start the next season without having seen all of this season, or (c) I'll have to keep checking on when USA will repeat the episodes I've missed, or (d) I'll have to Netflix a few of the discs for Season Five when they're released. Blinkx did not help me in my Monkquest. So, I continued looking to see what else Blinkx is good for. You can see news clips that you probably wouldn't find otherwise. That's pretty neat!

Visited Countries and Visited States

Hey, this was fun and simple! Here are all of the states I've visited (however briefly).

create your own visited states map

And here's a map of the countries I've visited (which will be expanding by 5 in November and December!).


create your own visited countries map

So what have I learned here? Since I've only visited 2% of the world, I'd better get crackin'! Geez, there's so much world to see and so little money and annual leave. Where would you like to go? Post a comment telling everyone about your dream destinations! Where else would I like to go? Naturally, I'd like to visit all of the places on my upcoming trip, so they'll make my Top Ten List, which goes like this (list is subject to change at any minute depending on personal whims and the latest Travel Channel show I've watched):

1. South Africa
2. Botswana
3. Swaziland
4. Zambia
5. Zimbabwe
6. Morocco
7. Italy
8. U.A.E.
9. India
10. China
11. Tunisia
12. Spain
13. Turkey

So what's 43 more?

So now that I'm done with the 23 Things, what's next? I took a look at the 43 Things article and took a few ideas from that. From there, I decided to go ahead and join the 43 Things website and make my own list. I was suprised by the community of it! It was really cool to see other people who shared some of my goals. Naturally, I got sidetracked by checking out the 43 Places feature as well. You can share travel tips, find people that live in or have visited specific areas, and tell your travel stories. How much fun is that?! So I guess I'll start in on my list and blog about that stuff. As an aside, one of the 43 Things was to join Netflix and rent movies. We joined Netflix sometime back in the fall, mostly because I wanted to watch Footballers' Wives. This weekend, when I was checking on our queue, I noticed a little link to RSS. "Hmmmm", said I. I went ahead and added my queue to my Bloglines page, so it's out there for all to see. My 43 Things list and my Bloglines page have links over on the sidebar. Check it out!

Week Nine, Thing 23

YES!!! Thing 23! WOOHOO! So here's the part where I summarize my thoughts, I guess. So, on to those thought-provoking questions...

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? Well, obviously I liked creating my Meez. Playing dress-up with an online animated skinny mini-me is obviously a good time. Not suprisingly, I loved playing with Barbie as a child. This is like an acceptable adult alternative. :) I also loved putting together a list of RSS feeds on my Bloglines page. I've read several articles that I would've have otherwise missed.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? Well, first of all, I think I'll keep blogging. Also, as mentioned above, I'm getting a ton more news than I did! As cliche as it sounds, it's brought the world in closer to me. I have been arguing for some time that the Internet isn't separating us, but bringing us closer. Things like the podcast I found and some of the news feeds I subscribe are truly doing that for me. I feel like a can keep in touch with things going on in parts of the world that I have visited or want to visit.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? YES! Frankly, I didn't think I'd be into this blogging thing at all. I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying it and I will probably continue to do so. I've had a terrific time checking out other blogs too. I also didn't expect to see so many other staff people talking about the 23 Things. It's really been much more fun than I expected, and I learned more than I expected.


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? As per one of my blog rants, it would be lovely if all links opened in a new window. Some links did, but at other times, I had found that I'd navigated away from the 23 Things window. It was very useful to have that window open as I worked so that I could refer back to the discovery exercise.


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? Definitely! Hopefully it will be as fun.


How would you describe your learning experience in a few words or a few sentences, so we can share our successes and promote this program? This was a true learning experience in which I was fully engaged. I wasn't just going through the motions. I really got into the spirit of the exercise and was completely absorbed in several of the assignments. You know a learning experience is a good one when you can't wait to run and tell people about your latest discovery or triumph!

Week Nine, Thing 22

I've been familiar with Overdrive since CCPL started subscribing to it some time ago. I even went to Digipalooza last summer, which was Overdrive's first annual conference. It was in Cleveland, home of Overdrive, and they had speakers that discussed content, the future of e- and audio books, how libraries used the content, and just what the company offered. Personally, I don't (yet!) have a device that will play Overdrive files (darn that iPod!). Naturally, I didn't bother checking out any audio books for myself. I did once try to download a documentary on the Ramones. It was going to take the better part of my life to download (even on a T1), so I quickly aborted that mission.

Since I had no earthly idea that Project Gutenburg had audio books, I decided to check that out. Neat! First, I had to check out the computer-generated books. I knew it would be hilarious, but it was WAY funnier than I expected. People are supposed to listen to that? Then I checked out the human-generated audio books, because that's more realistic. They sound just fine. I checked out E. Nesbit's Five Children and It. I had to read it in library school and I have a fondness for the story. So, the moral of the story is, kiddies, if you wait until the night before your assignment is due to read your classic, try an audio book from here!

Week Nine, Thing 21

When I first heard about podcasting, I said to myself, "Why would anyone want to download a podcast to their iPod? It's like listening to talk radio or something. People pay for brief audio clips and listen to them like a track?" Then I found out that podcasts were named after the iPod, but they're really just another audio file. So then it made more sense to think that people would want to be able to add audio clips to web pages and stuff. It wasn't until I had heard about travelcasts that I saw some really cool potential in podcasting. In fact, I only recently heard about this. My husband and I took a few days to check out Philadelphia. While searching for travel info, I ran across some podcasts that you could download to your portable media player. You could listen to a personal guided tour of the historic district. Cool, huh? So, I looked around Podcast Alley to find a podcast of interest. Since I think this travel idea is so cool, I went in that direction. First, I tried to subscribe to a collection of podcasts of Cape Town audio tours. It totally didn't work, but I can download them. So then I checked out the The ZA Show podcast, which is a radio show about things going on in South Africa and Cape Town. It's pronounced "zed-ay" show, BTW. It's a regular podcast from a South African couple. They do news, music, interviews, etc.

What potential do I see for this? I could see some Ghost Walk possibilities! We could do podcasts for do-it-yourself walking tours and for the driving tour of the county. That might be fun!

For this discovery exercise, I didn't do the optional part about making my own podcast. I just didn't have anything to say. If I did, I would. :)

Week Nine, Thing 20

For this Thing, I checked out You Tube. I've looked at stuff on it before, but it's mostly been related to the Numa Numa song. It's interesting that there are even commercials for products available now. I've also looked at library videos. I saw someone's purse being snatched and some kid asleep in a study carrel. I can see some intesting applications for libraries here. We could embed video tours or storytimes on web pages. The Westminster branch could do video updates about the renovation. Of course, we'd have to figure out the video editing part first. You Tube is pretty much the last step in the video promotion process.

For this task, I decided to check out some interests that I haven't thought about it awhile: Stainboy and Lenore. I decided to post Lenore. Please be aware: Lenore is neither cute nor dead (exactly). She's a semi-violent zombie creature. If you don't find humor in these things, don't watch!