2.15.2012
Coolest. Thing. Ever.
I just snorkeled over a sea turtle for like ten minutes! Cannot wait to process this film!!!
2.13.2012
Day Two - Cowboys, and memories
Day two started much like day one, just a bit earlier :) We met for our Big Island Breakfast again and then piled in the car to go visit my grandmother's memorial. Here on the Big Island, there's a tradition of taking the white coral and rocks that can be found near the ocean and writing messages with them on the black lava rock that covers the majority of the island. It is a known fact that you're not supposed to move these white rocks except for the express purpose of writing the messages and once placed, they're not to be moved and therefore the messages will last forever. Well... that's the idea anyway.
So, as I've mentioned - my grandparents and I came to Hawaii every summer as I was growing up. When my grandmother passed away in February of 2008, my grandfather decided he wanted to make the trip again. The following June, my dad, aunt, uncle and grandfather all came back to Hawaii. While on the Big Island, they created one such memorial for my grandmother. The first year, it simply read "S.C.M" near a flowering tree just past our hotel. The next January, Baba took Andrew and me back and we added her birthday. Last year, we added and RIP and Baba added a rainbow.
This year...
It was gone. But... the culprit didn't take the stones far - I recognized most of our stones right next to where we'd placed the memorial originally! So, we stole them back. Turn around is fair play!
So, as I've mentioned - my grandparents and I came to Hawaii every summer as I was growing up. When my grandmother passed away in February of 2008, my grandfather decided he wanted to make the trip again. The following June, my dad, aunt, uncle and grandfather all came back to Hawaii. While on the Big Island, they created one such memorial for my grandmother. The first year, it simply read "S.C.M" near a flowering tree just past our hotel. The next January, Baba took Andrew and me back and we added her birthday. Last year, we added and RIP and Baba added a rainbow.
This year...
It was gone. But... the culprit didn't take the stones far - I recognized most of our stones right next to where we'd placed the memorial originally! So, we stole them back. Turn around is fair play!
All is right again!
After we finished at the memorial, we kept heading North up to Parker Ranch. No horseback riding planned this year, but we went to the visitor's center and reread the history of the Ranch and the Paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys).
There was a new restaurant next to the visitor's center that we decided to try - it was actually their first lunch service! Very good, local beef - slow service, but who cares - we're on vacation!
After lunch, we headed back down to the South, but we took the coastal road and stopped in Hawi. Unfortunately, it was raining a bit and we were getting tired. It's about an hour's drive from Hawi to the hotel, so we headed back.
Found another new place to eat for dinner, still "on campus" but not in our hotel, called Waikoloa Bar and Grill. Pretty good, but they ran out of their specials :(
We ended up back at home around 8:30 pm, and Becky, Mom, Andrew and I decided to utilize our Aloha Passport to get some free drinks at the Cantina before heading to bed. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and tomorrow night, we'll go to the Luau!
Aloha ahiahi ia oukou!
Day One: I went to Hawai'i and all I got was this stupid Air Force Parka
2.12.12 - 8:33 pm local
Aloha!
As you may have seen in the Twitter updates to the right, we finally arrived on the Big Island of Hawaii last night around 8:30 local time... let's see... add 4... carry the one... that would be 12:30 am in Madison. We got up at about 3:30 am CST yesterday morning - so by the time we went to bed (almost 10:30 for most us) that's a grand total of 21 hours of awake-ness. REALLY glad we don't do that every day! :)
Once we got to the hotel and got checked in, we dumped our stuff and went to the Boat Landing Cantina for dinner. This is the same place we ate a few times last year - but then, it was called the Boat Landing Bar and Grille. It's had a Mexican make-over and I think it was very successful. They have table-side guacamole and a pretty decent menu. I had Kalua Pork taquitos and there were also burritos and tacos with Hawaiian flare served around our table. We, then, went to our rooms around 10 for the night.
So, needless to say, we wanted to sleep in today. We decided to meet at 9 am for breakfast, which is again being held in the Water's Edge Ballroom.
Aloha!
As you may have seen in the Twitter updates to the right, we finally arrived on the Big Island of Hawaii last night around 8:30 local time... let's see... add 4... carry the one... that would be 12:30 am in Madison. We got up at about 3:30 am CST yesterday morning - so by the time we went to bed (almost 10:30 for most us) that's a grand total of 21 hours of awake-ness. REALLY glad we don't do that every day! :)
Once we got to the hotel and got checked in, we dumped our stuff and went to the Boat Landing Cantina for dinner. This is the same place we ate a few times last year - but then, it was called the Boat Landing Bar and Grille. It's had a Mexican make-over and I think it was very successful. They have table-side guacamole and a pretty decent menu. I had Kalua Pork taquitos and there were also burritos and tacos with Hawaiian flare served around our table. We, then, went to our rooms around 10 for the night.
So, needless to say, we wanted to sleep in today. We decided to meet at 9 am for breakfast, which is again being held in the Water's Edge Ballroom.
After breakfast, we all piled in the cars and drove to Kona. Andrew and I knew we wanted to go to Costco as early in the trip as possible so we could get (cheaper) water. We got our usual 35-pack, and it was a bit more expensive here, but that's to be expected. It was almost double for any of the brands!
Then guess where we went... Hilo Hatties! :) Well... it was a quick trip - Dad and Doug had to be back at the hotel and ready to leave by 2:30 so they could get to their Mauna Kea trip pick up point at the Queen's Marketplace.
Here's a picture my dad took of my uncle at the top of Mauna Kea
Oh yeah, that would explain the title of this post - Dad and Doug (on purpose) decided to go to the 14,000 foot level of Mauna Kea tonight to check out the observatories and do some star-gazing. Here's a little information about Mauna Kea. Currently (8:58 pm) it's 34 degrees F on the top of Mauna Kea, with a (relatively) calm 20 mph wind.... That's only 13 degrees warmer then it is in Madison right now!! They're not back yet, so I'm not sure if they survived... but - well, let's just say if I'd wanted to be that cold - I would have stayed in Wisconsin!
Here are some pictures of beautiful (warm) Hawaii to help get over that brain freeze I just induced:
Since the two of them weren't planning on being home till 10 or later, Mom, Becky, Baba, Andrew and I went to dinner alone. We ended up at Macaroni Grill (which we have in Madison, but oh well) It was very good. Got home around 8:30, and Andrew and I headed back to our room. We'll be a bit better in sync tomorrow and hopefully not so tired! The plans include meeting for breakfast at 8 am and probably heading to Kona and seeing where that takes us!
2.03.2012
#libday8 It's Friday, Friday!
Okay, so yesterday was pretty uneventful... but apparently busy enough I didn't realize that I wasn't posting... :-/
Today will be better!
7:30 am - arrive at work. I get to work early because on Fridays I have "InfoDesk" shifts. Folks who work in the library can "volunteer" for InfoDesk (basically, Reference) shifts if they get supervisor approval, so usually, one of my office mates and I share a two hour shift on Fridays. I get here early to open the desk at 8:00 am and then she takes over at 9. Today, however, I'll be working the whole shift because she's got other obligations. I love working reference though, so I don't mind! Also, if you're only here for an hour - it's hard to really get settled in.
8:00 am - InfoDesk open for business! Another library staff member came over to ask me about an ILL request he placed, so I looked it up for him (we're still responsible for ILL work while on the desks) and it looks like it's shipped. Hopefully it will arrive soon!
Questions answered today at the InfoDesk:
- Where is the lost and found?
- How do I print using a printcard?
- Where is room 230?
- I'm done using these books, where should I put them?
- Where have you been? Hibernating? (This from a regular patron who always says hi :) We only have InfoDesk shifts during the regular semesters, so I haven't been up here as much recently...)
ILL break - request for Know how: the guide to making money with Tupperware - sad part is, I think this may actually be scholarly... the patron is a History major and they found it cited in the Journal of Women's History... the book is from 1958...
More InfoDesk questions:
- I found this ebook that I want to read, but is there a physical copy?
- Where are the foreign language dictionaries? I'm looking for something very specific...
- (okay I'm paraphrasing this one... but) I can't be bothered to remember to bring my ID with me every day and I'm running out of guest passes... what should I do? Answer: Be Responsible. The rest of us have to...
- Is there a fax machine available in the library for patron use?
10:15 am - back in ILL
Just two of us today, so we'll split the day in half - taking turns on doc providers and email duties. Hopefully our student workers come in, otherwise we'll have to do some of their work too.
11:50 am - A College Library staff member called to let us know they used the nifty new book scanners to fill a request for us... of course, they couldn't save the request in the same way they usually do with the "Transaction Number" as the name, and it was not exactly a legible scan... but YAY for new technology! :)
12:00 pm - Lunch time!
12:30 pm - back at it. Still my Doc Provider/phone shift...
12:42 pm - best. request. today. "The Ethics of Sightseeing"
3:25 pm - another library on campus accidentally charged a "no loan" book out to a patron and then discharged it, putting it in transit to us. They emailed to let us know that it is still sitting on their hold shelf.
4:00 pm - Quittin' time! It's been a good week :)
Today will be better!
7:30 am - arrive at work. I get to work early because on Fridays I have "InfoDesk" shifts. Folks who work in the library can "volunteer" for InfoDesk (basically, Reference) shifts if they get supervisor approval, so usually, one of my office mates and I share a two hour shift on Fridays. I get here early to open the desk at 8:00 am and then she takes over at 9. Today, however, I'll be working the whole shift because she's got other obligations. I love working reference though, so I don't mind! Also, if you're only here for an hour - it's hard to really get settled in.
8:00 am - InfoDesk open for business! Another library staff member came over to ask me about an ILL request he placed, so I looked it up for him (we're still responsible for ILL work while on the desks) and it looks like it's shipped. Hopefully it will arrive soon!
Questions answered today at the InfoDesk:
- Where is the lost and found?
- How do I print using a printcard?
- Where is room 230?
- I'm done using these books, where should I put them?
- Where have you been? Hibernating? (This from a regular patron who always says hi :) We only have InfoDesk shifts during the regular semesters, so I haven't been up here as much recently...)
ILL break - request for Know how: the guide to making money with Tupperware - sad part is, I think this may actually be scholarly... the patron is a History major and they found it cited in the Journal of Women's History... the book is from 1958...
More InfoDesk questions:
- I found this ebook that I want to read, but is there a physical copy?
- Where are the foreign language dictionaries? I'm looking for something very specific...
- (okay I'm paraphrasing this one... but) I can't be bothered to remember to bring my ID with me every day and I'm running out of guest passes... what should I do? Answer: Be Responsible. The rest of us have to...
- Is there a fax machine available in the library for patron use?
10:15 am - back in ILL
Just two of us today, so we'll split the day in half - taking turns on doc providers and email duties. Hopefully our student workers come in, otherwise we'll have to do some of their work too.
11:50 am - A College Library staff member called to let us know they used the nifty new book scanners to fill a request for us... of course, they couldn't save the request in the same way they usually do with the "Transaction Number" as the name, and it was not exactly a legible scan... but YAY for new technology! :)
12:00 pm - Lunch time!
12:30 pm - back at it. Still my Doc Provider/phone shift...
12:42 pm - best. request. today. "The Ethics of Sightseeing"
3:25 pm - another library on campus accidentally charged a "no loan" book out to a patron and then discharged it, putting it in transit to us. They emailed to let us know that it is still sitting on their hold shelf.
4:00 pm - Quittin' time! It's been a good week :)
2.01.2012
#libday8 - We made it to Wednesday!
Got here at my normal time today - 8 am. The morning progressed as usual - lots of requests!
We found out there will be a change coming up in July that will affect some of our patrons - folks who have the library's "fee cards" will no longer automatically have access to ILL services. They can opt into a (more expensive) card that still allows access but we're not sure they'll all want to pay the (much) higher price tag. Ahh... budget implications...
2:13 pm - taking a late "lunch" today. I actually ate around 11:30 on a 15 minute break but of course I still get my hour long break too!
3:00 pm - Circulation Desk shift - BUSY! Missing holds and the whole nine-yards
4:00 pm - back into requests
5:00 pm - quittin' time!
We found out there will be a change coming up in July that will affect some of our patrons - folks who have the library's "fee cards" will no longer automatically have access to ILL services. They can opt into a (more expensive) card that still allows access but we're not sure they'll all want to pay the (much) higher price tag. Ahh... budget implications...
2:13 pm - taking a late "lunch" today. I actually ate around 11:30 on a 15 minute break but of course I still get my hour long break too!
3:00 pm - Circulation Desk shift - BUSY! Missing holds and the whole nine-yards
4:00 pm - back into requests
5:00 pm - quittin' time!
1.31.2012
#libday8 day 2
Tuesday!
8:00 am - arrive at work, load all programs
8:10 am - one of my coworkers is gone for the morning so we're responsible for the email account for the office too. Usually, we're not, so it's nice to have the extra experience!
8:15 am - and... requests! I'm in the "regular" queue for a while...
- Lots of requests for Spanish Language materials today... many of which are available on campus!
-Someone is looking for information on Niue which is in Polynesia, so I'm sending lots of requests to the University of Hawaii!
- _Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies_? Yeah, okay - that's scholarly :)
- Lots of Preservation Department questions about their requests - they (usually) require microfilm and sometimes the lending library sends other formats...
12:00 pm - Lunch Time!! Meeting my dad today, we'll probably go to Chin's. Gotta break my dad of the habit of ONLY going to Subway... State Street is at our front door - don't limit yourself!! :)
1:00 pm - dodged a swarm of rapid grad students making a road block in the stairwell to make it back to work.
1:00 pm - back into requests. I'll be responsible for doc providers all afternoon, hopefully there aren't too many!
1:07 pm - Loving my Aloha 'Oe Pandora radio station- HAPA is on right now!
4:32 pm - wow, the afternoon went pretty quickly. Lots of requests... it happens.
5:00 pm - Quitin' time!
8:00 am - arrive at work, load all programs
8:10 am - one of my coworkers is gone for the morning so we're responsible for the email account for the office too. Usually, we're not, so it's nice to have the extra experience!
8:15 am - and... requests! I'm in the "regular" queue for a while...
- Lots of requests for Spanish Language materials today... many of which are available on campus!
-Someone is looking for information on Niue which is in Polynesia, so I'm sending lots of requests to the University of Hawaii!
- _Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies_? Yeah, okay - that's scholarly :)
- Lots of Preservation Department questions about their requests - they (usually) require microfilm and sometimes the lending library sends other formats...
12:00 pm - Lunch Time!! Meeting my dad today, we'll probably go to Chin's. Gotta break my dad of the habit of ONLY going to Subway... State Street is at our front door - don't limit yourself!! :)
1:00 pm - dodged a swarm of rapid grad students making a road block in the stairwell to make it back to work.
1:00 pm - back into requests. I'll be responsible for doc providers all afternoon, hopefully there aren't too many!
1:07 pm - Loving my Aloha 'Oe Pandora radio station- HAPA is on right now!
4:32 pm - wow, the afternoon went pretty quickly. Lots of requests... it happens.
5:00 pm - Quitin' time!
1.30.2012
Welcome to #libday8 !
Good... afternoon all! (Yikes, where did the morning go?!)
Today is the start of the wonderful Library Day in the Life Project round 8! For those of you unfamiliar with the fantasticness that is this project, this week librarians from all over will track what they do in an average day or week and share with the world! This is the second time I've participated, and I love reading all the posts! I will, primarily, make blog posts here and post those links to my twitter and facebook feeds as well.
Here's a recap of my day so far to get you caught up!
8:00 am - arrived at work. Okay, well, let's be honest, it was really more like 8:03 by the time I got here. I take the bus so my "arrive" time is often a few minutes early or late... but I make up for it!
8:10 am - everything is finally up and running on my computer. I always have to open a bunch of programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, our server, and ILLiad) so it usually takes a little while
8:10 am to 9:10 am - dove in and started processing requests. Usually, I start in what we call our "regular" queue, which is basically the "newest" requests. Patrons will place InterLibrary Loan requests for items they want that our campus does not have, or for articles they'd like electronic copies of - either from our campus or other institutions. We have many other queues to watch too, and we usually rotate through them throughout the day as they all require different type of searching and some are harder then others!
9:10 am - I left the office (gasp!) for my Staff Development Committee Meeting. I've been on this committee for a few years now and it's a lot of fun! We do the programming (both work related and some personal growth type events as well) for the Library Staff which range from tech/how-to type things to staff art shows and travel brownbags.
10:15 am - returned back to the office after my meeting and went into the "Doc Provider" queue. From 10-12 and 2-3 every day, I'm responsible for this queue. These are articles and book chapters that folks have requested that we need to pay copyright on prior to giving our patron access. So, this queue involves going to publisher's websites and buying access to an article. I'm sure most patrons don't have any idea that we spend money to get their items for them - but doc providers can cost almost anything. We do have a limit - if an item is over $55 dollars, we send the patron an email asking them "Are you SURE you want this?" and if they say "yes" we buy it. If it's more then $115 - then we say "Sorry, no can do!" but - just as an example, on 'Cyber Monday' (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, where MANY folks make online purchases for Christmas) I did that queue all day and I spent $1143.83 of the University's money. Most people don't realize what they're really getting from their libraries! :)
During our doc provider shifts, we also "clear [the] copyright" list which moves new requests into the queues they should be in based on whether or not we owe copyright fees on them.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! Started typing this post...
1:00 pm - You know what my grandfather says... BACK TO WORK!! :)
2:10 pm - Doc Provider shift again... just bought a five page for $49... see what I mean? :)
3:00 pm - discussion of the likelihood that ghosts exist... of course!
4:59 pm - actually still talking about ghosts... :) Time to go home!
Today is the start of the wonderful Library Day in the Life Project round 8! For those of you unfamiliar with the fantasticness that is this project, this week librarians from all over will track what they do in an average day or week and share with the world! This is the second time I've participated, and I love reading all the posts! I will, primarily, make blog posts here and post those links to my twitter and facebook feeds as well.
Here's a recap of my day so far to get you caught up!
8:00 am - arrived at work. Okay, well, let's be honest, it was really more like 8:03 by the time I got here. I take the bus so my "arrive" time is often a few minutes early or late... but I make up for it!
8:10 am - everything is finally up and running on my computer. I always have to open a bunch of programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, our server, and ILLiad) so it usually takes a little while
8:10 am to 9:10 am - dove in and started processing requests. Usually, I start in what we call our "regular" queue, which is basically the "newest" requests. Patrons will place InterLibrary Loan requests for items they want that our campus does not have, or for articles they'd like electronic copies of - either from our campus or other institutions. We have many other queues to watch too, and we usually rotate through them throughout the day as they all require different type of searching and some are harder then others!
9:10 am - I left the office (gasp!) for my Staff Development Committee Meeting. I've been on this committee for a few years now and it's a lot of fun! We do the programming (both work related and some personal growth type events as well) for the Library Staff which range from tech/how-to type things to staff art shows and travel brownbags.
10:15 am - returned back to the office after my meeting and went into the "Doc Provider" queue. From 10-12 and 2-3 every day, I'm responsible for this queue. These are articles and book chapters that folks have requested that we need to pay copyright on prior to giving our patron access. So, this queue involves going to publisher's websites and buying access to an article. I'm sure most patrons don't have any idea that we spend money to get their items for them - but doc providers can cost almost anything. We do have a limit - if an item is over $55 dollars, we send the patron an email asking them "Are you SURE you want this?" and if they say "yes" we buy it. If it's more then $115 - then we say "Sorry, no can do!" but - just as an example, on 'Cyber Monday' (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, where MANY folks make online purchases for Christmas) I did that queue all day and I spent $1143.83 of the University's money. Most people don't realize what they're really getting from their libraries! :)
During our doc provider shifts, we also "clear [the] copyright" list which moves new requests into the queues they should be in based on whether or not we owe copyright fees on them.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! Started typing this post...
1:00 pm - You know what my grandfather says... BACK TO WORK!! :)
2:10 pm - Doc Provider shift again... just bought a five page for $49... see what I mean? :)
3:00 pm - discussion of the likelihood that ghosts exist... of course!
4:59 pm - actually still talking about ghosts... :) Time to go home!
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