Well, now that's been over a week, how about some more info about my trip to New York? We ended up eating on Wednesday night at McHale's, this total hole-in-the-way-esque place that had fantastically huge and cheap burgers. Seriously, I got a bacon cheeseburger and I had like eight pieces of bacon on it. Needless to say, I didn't eat all the bacon.

And I finally went to the Strand -- eighteen miles of books -- and bought Jack and Jill, a Louisa May Alcott book that was so-so. I was pretty underwhelmed by the Strand. They just didn't really have what I was looking for, or perhaps it might be better to say that I looked and didn't find anything worth buying and hauling around NYC for an entire day.

So, yeah, that's all I can remember for right now.

Easter dinner went quite well. The ham took a lot longer than I expected to cook, but it was still tasty. And the cheesy hashbrowns were awesome. We also got some great desserts -- my roommate made a chocolate pie and someone else had homemade brownies with carmel ice cream. Yum!

And the week has gone by pretty good. I got to go to an AskUsNow! training on Thursday. AskUsNow! is the chat-based reference service that the state of Maryland offers. I should be starting doing it for real sometime soon. I'm actually pretty excited about it because I wrote a big paper on chat-based reference when I was in grad school. Gosh, I really am a big nerd, aren't I? And also, the AskUsNow! coordinator has apparently started plans to market the service to the business community in Maryland and elsewhere. And guess what department will (hopefully!) be involved with putting it together and training other librarians on resources? Oh, that would be my department! I'm really happy about that fact because we seem to be at a bit of a crossroads about the SLRC aspect of the library. (I'm not going to get into because it is long and complicated and no one probably cares but me.) Basically, it's a good thing!

And I had the weekend off! Yay! I went and returned a jacket to Eddie Bauer this morning and used the money to get some spring/summer-y tops. I don't seem to be finding what I want. I guess I'm in a weird age and career point. I can't wear what seems to be marketed to the 20-somethings or even younger people because I have to look professional at work. But I don't feel like I'm ready to be shopping at the more matronly stores either. So it's a pain. But New York & Company, my go-to store, managed to come through and I got two new shirts.

Tomorrow I will be going to my roommate's niece and nephew's birthday party. Their birthdays are within a week of one another and so I'll be celebrating three and five years respectably. I think I will be going to Barnes and Noble tonight to look for a Kevin Henkes book to give them. Maybe. My roommate says that I don't need to bother, but I would still like to.

And I have been working on the fifty books in one year challenge. I consumed a lot of cheesy romance novels a couple of weekends ago. I'm not going to sum them up because they don't really deserve a summary. But they are quite enjoyable!! It's rather nice to read something fluffy after having read some thicker and more academic books. I can't just read nonfiction!!

Okay, numbers thirteen through eighteen are as follows: Perfect Switch, A Hard Man is Good to Find, When He Was Wicked (by Julia Quinn -- her Regency era novels are really quite entertaining and I would totally recommend them as fun romance novels to read. Very clever and funny!), Charmed, Since You're Leaving Anyway, Take Out the Trash, and Secrets of the Night. Look them up on Amazon if you're interested in the details.

I also managed to read a nineteenth book, Jack and Jill, the aforementioned Louisa May Alcott book. I've read most of her books and this one was okay. Definitely not as good as Eight Cousins or A Rose in Bloom, which are my two favorite Alcott books. It's a childhood story about Jack and Jill who get into a sledding accident and then have to deal with the consequences. It's pretty much in the same vein as most of Alcott's novels, but none of the characters really grabbed me. Also, there isn't any romance for the most part, so I found that lack of a hook to make the book less interesting. If you really enjoy Alcott, I'd suggest reading it, but otherwise, skip it!