From the ALA:
Mean librarian salaries up 2% in 2008
Analysis of data from more than 1,010 public and academic libraries showed that the mean salary for librarians with ALA-accredited master’s degrees increased 2% from 2007, up $1,151 to $57,809. The median ALA MLS salary was $53,251, and salaries ranged from $22,000 to $331,200. Results are reported in the 2008 edition of the ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian—Public and Academic, published by the ALA–Allied Professional Association….
I got to use my mortar and pestle tonight, which is another Christmas present from my parents. Most of my cool stuff comes from them (except my gun and my dolphin skull).
The model I have looks like this:
Image comes from here; it’s from AMCO Houseworks.
I used it to grind about 2 tbsp. of toasted cumin seeds, this evening, for a lentil soup that I made. Perhaps this is common knowledge, but today I found for the first time that my grinding became more effective if I just swirled the pestle around in the mortar, applying constant pressure to the contents, rather than using a repeated grinding motion where I push down in the bottom of the mortar with the pestle (if that made any sense).
This year I think I’m going to angle for a mandoline for my new kitchen toy - I yearn to be able to slice things wafairr-theen!
Last weekend Victor and I were up in the North Bay, so we did what everyone does when they head up that direction: we went to an RV show. This was in the middle of the day on a Friday, the first day of the show, so we kind of had the place all to ourselves, except for the salespeople (who were all very nice, and who, reasonably, pretty much left us alone once they saw that we weren’t serious buyers (this assessment probably took them about .7 seconds)).
At first we were looking at the little RVs, cause feasibly, someday, we might want to set ourselves up with something like that. But eventually we migrated over to the big ol’ land yachts, cause, you know, how can you not?
We had a little photo shoot, with Victor demonstrating the various features of some of the rigs that we looked at. Maybe if we go to enough of these things we could make a calendar.
We used to have an Albertson’s directly across the street from our apartment complex. About a week ago, this Albertson’s had a power outage (the only one on the block). This past weekend, Victor and I went there to try to buy some meat and they didn’t have any. Meat. At all. The meat case was empty.
Monday morning, the Albertson’s sign was taken down and a Lucky sign was put up.
The Albertson’s was never a very nice store. The floors were always kind of dirty, and it never smelled quite right. But, the brand-conscious part of my brain still perceives the Lucky as being a step down from the Albertson’s. The store may in fact improve by virtue of being a Lucky, but it will still be tainted by its low-rent branding, at least in my mind.
It continually surprises me, the low quality of grocery stores here in California. Back east, or at least in the southern New England and mid Atlantic states, any suburb or faux-suburb greater than 30,000 in size sports a huge, glittering mega supermarket that has everything you could ever want. Aesthetically appealing? Not necessarily. But clean, at least, and fully stocked with an array of both domestic and foreign foodstuffs to dazzle the eye and palate, with firm and fresh produce, and ham hocks available from the meat department, should you need such a thing. I thought that California would be replete with these types of establishments as well, being, you know, California, but such is not the case. At least, not around the Bay Area: I have in fact encountered a supermarket like this in Sacramento.
I think it might have to do with the fact that the yuppies all shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s here, or at the cute little individually owned boutique gourmet grocery stores. Don’t get me wrong, I shop at Trader Joe’s too, but when I need, for example, meat, I’m going to go to a normal supermarket. I’m not going to go to Whole Foods and pay $19/lb for meat from some grass-fed, diaper-wearing cow that only drank lattes till it was 6 months old. But apparently the power of the yuppie dollar is not with me on this, so there isn’t demand for, for instance, regular supermarkets that have meat departments with a decent selection of different cuts, or produce that isn’t wilted and brown. I suppose I will just struggle along with my Lucky, and hope for the best.
I’m a commuter, and I’m a typical bad commuter who drives my car, both ways, without carpooling or any such mitigating what-have-yous. My round trip is around 59 miles/day, around 48 of which is highway miles.
A couple of weeks ago I started driving around 60-65 mph instead of my usual 75 miles per hour, just to see what sort of difference it made to my fuel efficiency. My 1991 Honda Civic Wagon had been getting 34 mpg, but under this new regime it’s been getting 40 mpg (based on n=2 fillups). Nice!
I computed how much I’m saving in gas per month: the car is pretty much only used for commuting, and I drive 18 days per month, or 1062 miles. Figuring an average gas price of 3.40/gallon, I was spending around 106.20/month on gas. Now I’m spending around 90.27 on gas, a savings of 15.93/month. Not bad.
Some households find that one television per person is simply insufficient for their needs.
Victor and I are finding that one computer per person is insufficient for our household.
We have a laptop, which Victor has set up in a semi-permanent, ergonomically friendly workstation in the living room, and a desktop, which I use, in the bedroom. But, when I’m doing things that don’t require much concentration, I don’t want to be exiled to the bedroom. I want to be able to be in the living room, where the action is. So, sometimes there are turf wars over Victor’s laptop, from which we’ve concluded that we need an additional laptop. Not that we’re getting one any time soon. Still, how sad is that? How many computers do you need in a 750 sq. foot apartment?
Subject line credit
The microplane grater. So smooth! So efficient! So nice to use! Using a microplane grater is like eating cotton candy, only without the part where you throw up on the Scrambler afterward.
I do not have permission to use this image, which comes from here. If my use of this image makes you feel mad or even the slightest bit litigious, let me know and I’ll remove it.
On Friday Victor and I met up with my friend Jen in Santa Cruz. She was there visiting her birthmom and sister, with whom she only recently became acquainted. However, all that is just backstory to the real item of interest.
Sister works in a spa and so is knowledgeable about spa-oriented equipment (I don’t really know how else to describe it). The day we visited, we had the good fortune to be present when her new neck extender arrived in the mail, and I gave it a whirl.
This isn’t what it looked like. But it gives you the general idea.
Sister’s neck extender must be used while reclining. A strap is fitted across your forehead, holding your head firmly against a cradle that supports the back of your head, neck, and shoulders. The part of the cradle that supports your neck is made of rubber and can be inflated by means of a hand pump similar to those found on blood pressure cuffs. As you inflate the device, your head is forced upward, extending your neck, and theoretically releasing tension and aligning cervical vertebrae and all that good stuff.
Like many things that are meant to be self-administered stand-ins for services normally rendered by others, it was entirely unsatisfactory- rather like trying to give yourself a footrub, or a haircut. Or like those vibrating massage chairs, or the things you can use to massage your own back. To be fair, it probably is not meant to be used in a party-like atmosphere with six people standing around looking down at you and commenting upon how the forehead strap makes your eyebrows look funny. Still, while I was using it the pressure on my head was uncomfortable, and when I was released from the device my neck didn’t feel appreciably different.
You very likely never knew there was such a device, and if you forget this post and never remember such a device again, your life will probably not be impoverished in any way.
I don’t really mind reading from screens. The main thing I don’t like is the necessity of holding myself upright while I read. And, I don’t really romanticize books as objects (which I gather is unusual for incipient librarians). So I’d probably be ok with an electronic reader.