Back to Normal

Back in Bozeman, and it feels like fall - almost. The trip back from Portland/Astoria was pleasant, and we stopped in Coeur d'Alene. Bette Ammon gave me a nice tour of their beautiful new building (what a view, right on the lake). So now it's back to work! But I have an MPLA board meeting in Denver, followed by the ASLD/PLD retreat at Chico Hot Springs, so there is plenty to look forward to and keep me busy.

Then it's on to November - my favorite month (so many holidays in such a short time, and my birthday!). But there is Halloween before that, and I see it's a Friday - sounds like a possible party...

Portland

Haven't seen a drop of rain in Portland - it's still summer here (although many locals seem to have checked the calendar and switched to their winter clothes: lots of sweaters and black). Today we visited the zoo.

Jon-Erik's apartment is nice - one last shopping trip tomorrow morning before we head off to Astoria. We were able to leave our car there and just use Portland's great transit system all this week. So much easier! And, one of the stops is right at the library so of course I dragged the boys along. Very busy! Lots of internet computers, and people waiting for reservations on those. We also stopped by Powell's (the book store).

Tom and I went to a performance of Phantom of the Opera last night. I've been waiting 12 years to see it (ever since we were in Germany and tried twice to get tickets to a London performance). So this was a real treat, and it was a great performance.

I hope to spend time in Coeur d'Alene on our way back - Bette Ammon has promised me a tour of their great new library too.

Preparing for Portland

We are planning a trip to Portland OR in September - Labor Day, to be exact. Jon-Erik thinks he has an apartment lined up, so we'll drive out with a U-Haul trailer filled with furniture and other stuff. We'll have a hotel - staying with Jon-Erik isn't an option! We'll be in Portland, while his apartment should be in Beaverton. I'm sure we can keep ourselves entertained (although I realized football season will start - guess I'll have to find a sports bar to watch the Giants and Colts opening games!). Then we'll go on to Astoria to a B&B for 2 nights. We haven't found anything for the return trip yet, so I'm not sure how that will end up. I'd like to see Couer d'Alene - maybe we can find a place to stay there. But it will be a nice vacation.

Summer moves along

The Sweet Pea Festival is over, a sure sign that summer is marching on! We're in to the thunderstorm season now - I love it, except when we lose power for extended periods (18 hours a few weeks ago - lots of trees down along the road to our house).

I think tourists are also moving along, and most of the foreign students too. It's almost back to a normal Saturday at the library!

I just spent 3 days at Boulder Hot Springs, at a Montana Library Association board retreat. It's been a few years since I've attended one of these - I enjoy being more involved in the association again (this time as the Montana rep to the Mountain Plains Library Association). It's fun to meet up with old friends and get to know some new faces. I'll travel to Denver in October for an MPLA board meeting - I don't know as many people on this board but am looking forward to making new friends!

Jon-Erik Update: the free wireless internet at his temporary residence is incredibly slow so he's pretty frustrated! I don't want to keep harping on the need for a job when we talk so don't know where he might be in that process. I guess I need to be a little more specific and find out what he plans to do if Aug. 31 comes along with no prospects!

Big Changes

It's time for a new era in our family - Jon-Erik, the younger son, is moving to Portland, OR this week. No job, no permanent living arrangement, but when you're 25 these things aren't so critical. He's done a lot of research, arranged for a 30-day apartment, looked at the transportation options and applied for a few jobs. So he's all set, and we'll drive out in a month with his small accumulation of household items. I admit to being very envious of his adventure!

Playtime for me too

Now that lots of staff have created their blogs and are really getting in to the Web 2.0 learning, I made more lessons available. When I first took the course myself I didn't spend as much time playing as I wanted, so this is a good opportunity to go back and do more!

Today I added a Library Thing widget to my blog, to display book titles on my shelf. I found the code easily enough but wasn't sure how to get it into the blog. I finally just decided to look at the Meebo widget, and pasted the Library Thing code in there. It looks like it worked!

If only everything was so easy - I tried to figure out how to add the Google widget Mike Price mentioned from MSC - personalized for our library - but couldn't find that anywhere.

Maybe I'll go make myself a trading card now!

Summer continues

More blogs from the staff - they are doing great! It's fun to see the learning process, and how they are able to see practical uses for many of the social networking tools in their personal lives.

I read today of a committee, spread out geographically, using Skype for conference calls to plan activities - that sounds like a great use of technology. Our family uses Skype too - it saves cell phone minutes!

Even more fun - my son and I can play some Nintendo Wii games online, just as if we are sitting in the same room. Another favorite of ours - online Scrabble. I won't even consider playing anyone else - we just play for fun.